More Than Friends
by Rawr- exclamation point
Summary: UPDATED The East High Gang still has the remaining summer to relax and earn some cash, but for some this summer will be completely different . Rated M for possible later chapters. BONUS CHAPTER ADDED!
1. What Time Is It?

Hey everyone, this is my first fanfic, so I'm just starting to do this thing. Please bear with me... Also the story will be a little to TroyxGabriella at first, but that's because I wanted to take things slow, and create a story that is realistic in how the characters evolve and change. Whether or not it happens is a different story. I fully intend to make this a Troy and Ryan story, so don't you worry. Also, if i don't update, please harass me. I probably forgot to update, and need a little reminding. With all that said, I hope you guys enjoy the story, the first chapters a little quick, but i hope to change that by next time. **This is a revised version of the same chapter. I was tired last night, and I wanted to go to bed, so I just finished it off. Sorry. Well here's an extended (slightly) version of the beginning. I hope it's better.**

Chapter 1

The sun rose lazily, piercing the darkness of the night. It crept over the many neighborhoods of the town of Albuquerque, and for one home, the light broke through the thin curtains and right into the face of a young teenager. The summer sun was strong, and the brunette's eyelids were no match for the intensity of it. Slowly the teen began to stir, cursing himself for purchasing them just because they had his favorite sports team on it.

" It figures that my new curtains would do something like this..," muttered one Troy Bolton as he slowly crept out of his bed. He mentally noted to himself that he was probably going to have to put up his old curtains, and put the new ones over it.

The teen sat up in his bed and looked around the room. His room wasn't large, nor was it small. It was cozy, and a little too bright in his opinion. The sun caught his trophies and nearly blinded him. Troy was the schools basketball superstar, and the golden child of the entire school in many peoples opinion. He didn't feel much like a hero right now, he felt like a teenager who was in desperate need of a shower. The summers in New Mexico were very hot, and not even the night could keep him from perspiring a bit.

The brunette peeled off his shirt from his sticky torso, and the other articles of clothing followed. He made his way to the shower in the hallway, knowing that his parents were already downstairs getting ready for their day. He cheered up a bit when he realized that the new fluffy towel was in the towel closet, and happily took it with him into the bathroom. Sure it was his mom's, but she was already dressed for the day, and today was laundry day, so it would be available tomorrow anyways.

He stepped into the shower and shivered a bit as the water warmed up, he didn't have to wait long for it to warm up though,and soon the entire bathroom was full of warmth. Yes it was summer, and it was hot, but that didn't mean that Troy wanted to start the day off with a cold shower. He stood there under the water and tried to recollect the dream he had last night. It was too fuzzy for him to remember, but he did remember the feeling of another person holding him. He supposed that he was having a dream about Gabriella, he was just surprised that he was just happy being held by her. Normally his dreams were much more explicit. His relationship with Gabriella was real, but he was also a hormonal teenager, and he also desired so much more.

Gabriella and himself had first met less than a year ago at a New Year's Eve party, they had been randomly selected to perform on stage to sing karaoke. At first both had been hesitant to perform, but with each other, they had managed to steal the show. It was a miracle that they met again at Easy High, and another miracle that they got together. The student body hadn't been all too accepting of their relationship, and preferred that they stick with what they knew and who they knew. 'Stick to the status quo,' they said...

It was only last week that they had shared their first kiss, and for the first time he felt like they were becoming a real couple. The days they spent working at Lava Springs were great, they got to be in the most luxurious spot in miles, and even though they were the help, they got to spend time together there. In about a month, the country club would be closed for the summer, and they would have a few weeks to enjoy the remaining summer with their hard earned cash. He planned on taking Gabriella on a lot of dates.

The athletic brunette stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around his waist. He felt so much better now that he was all clean. The teen made the short trek to his room and closed the door. Once inside, he went through his closet and picked out an outfit. He chose to wear a blue and white striped shirt and blue jeans. It wasn't special, and he wasn't even going to wear it for long, after all, he had to wear the uniform that the club had given him. But that didn't mean that he had to wear it after work, and he wanted to look nice for Gabriella after work. That was when they usually got to spend some real time together.

There was a knock at the door.

" Troy, you almost ready? You have to be at work today, and I don't want you to be late," his mother called through the door.

" Yeah mom! I'm just finishing up," Troy walked over to the door and opened it, his mom had already went back downstairs. 'Whatever' he thought to himself, and went back to getting ready.

***

Troy stepped out of his truck and made the familiar path to the kitchens of Lava Springs Country Club. The drive to the club was long, and it usually took a while to get there, so the brunette would try to get there early. He was early today, so the only one there was Zeke, and he was consumed in his work at the moment. Pastries were hobby of Zeke's, and the boy was very passionate about it. He made his way to the time punch clock, and swiped his card.

Not feeling like starting work early, Troy stepped outside and looked around. The desert landscape looked dry and arid, and the country club was lush and green. It was too unnatural in the brunette's opinion, and wondered how much money must go into this club to keep it green everyday. Too much.

" Hey there Wildcat," said a sweet voice in his ear.

Troy turned around, and met the gaze of a lovely dark haired girl. Gabriella was smiling at him, and holding her hands behind her back. Troy often wondered if she had taken acting classes, because she was an unnaturally sweet person.

" Hey Gabi, when did you get here?" He pecked his girlfriends cheek with a quick kiss.

" Just a moment ago," Gabriella wrinkled her nose, that nickname annoyed her, but she would never tell him that. " Do you know that your late? Everyone else is working, and asking where you are. Fulten doesn't know yet, so I'd hurry if I were you," Gabriella pointed to her name badge to prove a point.

" Oh geez! I completely zoned out, I'd better go-," Troy looked at Gabriella. " Is everything okay?"

Troy stared at Gabriella, her eyes were slightly swollen and pink, like she had been crying earlier.

" Hmm? Oh yeah, I was just a little upset this morning. You know how moody us girls can be." She smiled at him, but wouldn't look him in the eye. Troy didn't completely trust her, but he was running late, so he bade her goodbye and promised to talk to her later about it.

Once in the kitchens, he just barely made it before Fulten had walked in. His boss had given him a long list of things that needed done, and soon the events between him and Gabriella were pushed from his mind. The chores weren't what he normally did, but they were miscellaneous tasks that were rotated between the staff, and it was a pain for anyone who received that list.

***

After a few hours of labor in the hot summer sun, Troy was wishing he was back to bussing tables with Chad. It was indoors, and you got tips, even if some of the patrons were a bit of a pain. He was in the golf course, pulling weeds. The machine that could normally do this thing faster was broken, and of course it had to break when it was the dark haired teen's turn to pull weeds. He had his shirt off- which was against club rules, but he didn't want to spend the day in a stinky shirt- and the sun was beating down on his tan back. It was near unbearable, and Troy was starting to feel light headed. He wasn't sure if he was alright, but he wanted to finish his job, so he could move back inside.

He was almost finished with the weed pulling, and glad of it. Many patrons were starting to make their way over to the golf course, and he was tired of getting cat calls from all sides. The fact that he had taken off his shirt seemed to invite everyone stare at his body, and he didn't like it. He was only a teen, and underage at that! So, feeling satisfied with his less-than-acceptable yard work, he decided to go inside and take a quick break.

He was near the end of the course when he thought he heard a voice. It was hard to tell, his head was starting to ache, and that was distraction enough. He kept on going, fully intending to escape the heat, but he heard that voice again. He turned around, and saw someone blonde coming toward him. 'Great,' he thought to himself. He had better try and get away from her as quick as possible.

" Listen, I don't really have time for this-," the ground under him shifted, and he fell over. The fall wasn't that bad, but he stayed on the ground, because he wasn't sure if he could get up again. The voice was getting louder, probably closer if he guessed right. His eyes were unfocused, and the figure in front of him was too fuzzy to recognize. He saw a pale hand come towards him, but he couldn't keep his eyelids up any longer. Suddenly everything went black...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So, that was the first chapter, nothing happened much, but it did set the ground for chapter two, which should be much more interesting. Please tell me what you think, chances are that I will accept some ideas, because I do have some fuzzy details that need sorted out. I should have new chapters up soon, I just fixed this one, because I was being lazy last night. There shouldn't be anymore revisions now, so yeah.... Thank you everyone who favorited and alerted this story. I was suprised that people responded in less than a day. Thank you again ^^


	2. I Expected You to Play SingDance Games

Chapter 2

Troy woke up to the sounds of quiet chatter all around him. The change in temperature suggested that he was now inside, and also he had a shirt on again. He didn't open his eyes, instead he pretended to be asleep, while he listened to what the others were saying.

" He was on the golf course when he fainted," he could tell it was Taylor by her voice.

" Men don't faint, they pass out Taylor." That was Chad.

" Whatever, I just can't believe that Fulten had him pull weeds on the course. There has to be something in employee rights that says it's unsafe to do so in the summer," Taylor had a tone in her voice that suggested that this wouldn't be over soon. " Fulten has been a complete jerk since we started. I'm surprised this hadn't happened sooner."

" Well, how is Troy," Troy's mind perked up, it was Gabriella.

" He shouldn't be too bad, it was just heat exhaustion, I mean, he could of been there for hours if Ryan hadn't found him." Troy's stomach lurched. Ryan had found him? " It's a good thing that Ryan could carry Troy to the kitchens. I'm sure Troy wouldn't want to be fussed over in the nurses' station, even if he did need it," Taylor added as an afterthought.

" He isn't feather light either, I was almost in need of some medical attention by the time we got here," Ryan's voice sounded winded. How long had he been laying there?

So, Ryan had carried him all the way from the golf course to the kitchens. It was about a three quarter mile walk. Dancing must have been more exercise than Troy had previously thought. Well, he might as well 'wake up' now.

" Hey, I heard that...," the brunette groaned for good measure. " I'm not that heavy." He slowly opened his eyes and pretended to be drowsy. He was in the break room of the kitchen, and his friends were all looking at him now.

" I know, but you were pretending to be asleep, and I figured that would get you going. Your a terrible actor by the way, I could so tell you were faking it," Ryan teased.

Troy sat up and looked at himself. He was wearing the clothes that he planned to put on after work, which meant someone had to dress him. " What happened to my other clothes?"

Ryan looked uncomfortable. " Well, I brought you here, and you were still shirtless. I put you down and told Fulten about what happened. He said to go ahead and put you in your normal clothes, because you were taking the rest of the day off. I would have had Chad do it, but Fulten said it was bad enough that he lost one server already, and he didn't need to be short handed. So I was left to dress you in the clothes in your locker. Your uniform is being cleaned right now." Ryan had said it all too quickly.

The dark haired teen stared at Ryan, whose cheeks began to flush. Ryan had seen him with almost no clothes on- now Troy felt uncomfortable. Ryan had come out to him only a few days ago, when they had spent the night hanging out (Gabriella had to leave early that day for an appointment of some sort.) Troy was the first person that Ryan had ever told that to, and Troy gave his word that he wouldn't tell a soul. most people already suspected it though. Troy had always known that Ryan was gay, and he had no problem with it, but having your gay friend undress and dress you was a bit much. He couldn't get Ryan to look him in the eye, which he didn't take as a good sign. Trying to avoid the issue, Troy changed the subject.

" So, how long have I been out?" Troy asked.

" Well, seeing as I was trying to talk to you when you fainted, I'd say about an hour and a half. It was pretty scary how you just collapsed and passed out. I'm sure that Fulten gave you the rest of the day off so you wouldn't get him into trouble."

Ryan's response had brought up another question in Troy's mind." Do I still get paid for the rest of the day," the brunette asked meekly.

Ryan gave a brief chuckle." Yes, you are still being paid."

The others seeing that Troy was going to be just fine, went back to their tasks at hand. Fulten wasn't going to give the rest of them the day off, that was for sure. As they cleared, Ryan stayed behind, he had a look of worry on his face.

Troy had noticed that over the summer Ryan had come out of his shell. It had all started when Sharpay had tried to get himself to perform with her in the talent show. Ryan was pushed aside, and was left out to dry. Well, the blonde certainly could adapt, and soon, he had most of the East High students working with him in the talent show production he created. Since then, he had made more friends and had developed his own voice, even if it was still drowned out by his twin sister.

" Hey Troy," Ryan had finally broke the silence," umm, I'm sorry I had to undress you and stuff. I was really nervous when I had to do it, and I just wanted to say that I didn't look at you, you know..." Ryan's voice had dropped to a near whisper, "down there."

The dark haired teen burst out laughing, which caught the blonde by surprise.

" Oh my god Ryan, chill out. I didn't think that you were molesting me." Ryan's face was priceless

" Then why did you have that face? It looked like you were about to throw up." the twin's voice was incredulous.

" I was just nervous in general. How comfortable can anyone be when they find out that someone had to undress them when they pass out?" Troy had already gotten on his feet and stretched, which revealed a thin margin of his tan stomach to the blonde. Ryan couldn't help but steal a quick glance. " Besides, I know that you don't have a crush on me or anything, I can pick up on that sort of stuff." It was Ryan's turn to look incredulous again.

***

The two adolescents had decided to spend the afternoon hanging out at the club, since Troy had the day off. They left the kitchens and went over to the restaurant and got lunch. They were served by a very agitated Chad, who threatened Troy to tip well, lest his secrets be spilled to the rest of the group. After that, the went to Ryan's room in the club to play some games. They had decided to stay indoors because of Troy's ' delicate condition' as Ryan put it. Troy was surprised that Ryan had some cool games, although he did expect the karaoke game and the dance mat game. They spent most of the afternoon playing one of those first person shooter games in co-op mode. Ryan was skilled with a controller.

" Aargh!!" Troy's head was blown off again by a sharpshooter. " I can't believe this keeps happening, I keep dying so much."

" You ned to crouch, this level has a lot of sharpshooters," Ryan responded, without looking away from the screen," It's impossible to get through if you don't."

" I didn't think you'd be this good at these sort of games. I expected you would only played the singing and dancing ones." Troy said.

Ryan paused the game." I may be a theater kind of person, but there is more to Ryan Evans than singing and twirling about like a fairy." He had an annoyed look in his eye.

" I didn't mean it like that," the brunette apologized," I just thought that since that seemed to be your interest, it carried over to gaming s well. I'm sorry if I sounded unfair to you."

Ryan smiled meekly," I know, it just bugs me that everyone expects me to be some one dimensional person with no interest other than musicals."

" I know how you feel, everyone expects me to be some jock who isn't capable of anything other than scoring baskets. I went through a lot of shit when I wanted to do the winter musical. Again, I apologize, I know you get enough shit from other people as it is. Can you forgive me?" Troy was unleashing his charm full force.

" Of course I can forgive you, but only if you give me a kiss," Ryan joked.

The dark haired teen froze, he didn't expect that from Ryan. He knew it was joke, but he had never even had the thought cross his mind before. The image of himself kissing Ryan was a hard image to erase. Ryan must have picked up on Troy's thoughts, because he quickly apologized.

" I'm sorry, I just froze because when you said that- I pictured the kissing," he truthfully confessed.

Ryan's mood was not improving. " I know, no one ever wants to be with me. The last guy I told was I liked totally freaked out. he then quick talking to me."

" Hey don't beat yourself up over it," Troy was determined to bring the mood back up. " Let's go for a walk, the sun's going down, it should be cool enough."

***

Ryan was in a sort of shock. The blonde's day was turning out very different from how he pictured it. He had planned to play a round of golf, go to the spa, and crash in his room and order room service. Instead he found an unconscious Troy, and carried his sweaty toned body back to the kitchens, where he had to undress Troy, and get him back into his normal clothes. He had tried very hard to not to stare at the dark haired youth's body, but his eyes would wander from time to time. Looking at Troy that way had winded the blonde, which he promptly claimed was from carrying the brunette. Then he and his crush had spent the remainder of the summer heat in his room, playing games. So far, everything was turning out to be a very good day.

" Hey Ryan!" Troy was yelling at the blonde from some distance." Come on, let's go for a swim!"

" What?" Ryan was in taken aback," I thought we were gonna walk around. I don't have any of my swimming clothes." Ryan had closed the distance between himself and the other boy.

" You don't need any swim stuff. Just take off your shirt, your shorts will be fine," Troy was already beginning to lift up his shirt, revealing the tan skin under it.

" I- well, I just thought we would be walking." That was all Ryan could manage.

Troy wasn't gonna have any of the blonde's excuses. He walked over to the teen, and started unbuttoning his white dress shirt.

" Oh my god Troy! What if someone sees us, they'll think we're together!" Ryan hissed.

Troy had not considered that, and he stopped to think halfway through unbuttoning Ryan's shirt.

" Who cares what they think? We aren't together, and we know it, so why do we have to prove it to everyone else?" The brunette was smiling at Ryan. "Besides, I want to swim." And with that, he tossed the blonde's shirt onto a nearby chair.

Ryan felt completely exposed to the brunette, he almost never took his shirt off, and here was Troy practically ripping his shirt off. Instinctively, he brought his arms up to his chest to cover himself as best he could.

" Oh come on Ryan, you saw me almost completely nude earlier, and you can't even take your shirt off?" Troy gave the other teen a light shove.

" That was different...," Ryan mumbled.

" How is it different Ryan? We're both guys, we have the same stuff, so why are you so uncomfortable?" Troy's voice had shifted in tone. He was starting to get serious.

" It's no big deal with you, because your comfortable with your body," Ryan was looking down at the ground.

" Look Ryan, I wanted to hang out with you because I wanted to have fun today." Troy's voice had become friendly again. " We're not gonna sit here and mope. Come on. I won't be able to swim in here again unless your here with me."

And with that, Troy grabbed the other boy's arm and pulled them both into the pool. Ryan felt the cold water on his skin, and he gasped. It had been a long time since he had anything other than a hot shower. Sharpay had never really approved of swimming. She thought it was childish, and preferred to be the eye candy next to the pool. He looked over at the dark haired teen, who was currently doing a few backstrokes in the pool. Troy was a complete mystery. How could someone be so comfortable with themselves?

" Hey Troy," he blonde had been watching him for a few minutes now, "what are we supposed to do now? Are we just gonna swim back and forth, I mean, it's not like there's anything to do in here." Troy just looked at him.

" It's the same as our walk, were doing something, but we're mainly here to talk. I just thought the pool would be a cool place to talk." Troy made the explanation sound like it was so obvious.

" Oh, well, what do we talk about," Ryan couldn't see where this was going.

" Anything, were just talking. Come on, let's go to the grotto."

Troy swam over to it, under the waterfall to the area behind it. There was a ledge big enough for four people, and it was, for the most part, completely hidden. Ryan reluctantly went over there, being in a confined space with a wet and half naked Troy was going to be difficult.

" So now what." Ryan said a little loudly, the waterfall made it hard to hear.

" I don't know," the brunette looked over at him," I didn't think I was going to have to tell you what to say."

" Sorry," the blonde apologized," I just don't like being here."

" Why not?"

" It brings some bad memories, ones I want to forget," this wasn't going as well as he had hoped.

" What kind?" Troy was getting nearer to him, so he wouldn't have to yell.

" Well, last summer, I was in here, but with my boyfriend," Ryan paused to compose himself," and this is where he told me he didn't want to be with me anymore." Ryan also scooted closer to Troy, not wanting to say it loudly. " He basically said that he was tired of being with someone who he had to hide. He wanted to pretend that he was straight again." Ryan quickly rubbed his forehead, hoping some of the water would hide his watery eyes.

" Hey, I'm sorry," Troy apologized," I didn't know that that happened." He put his arm on Ryan's shoulder. "But it doesn't have to stay that way. You bring your special someone here, and make it special again. Your worth more than that."

Troy's face was really close to his, and he could feel the breath on his face. He could also feel the blood rushing to his face, but he kept on staring at Troy. How could he tell him that _he _was the special person, and that _he _was there with him? He moved his face an inch closer, hoping that Troy wouldn't back away. He felt the brunette's eyes piercing his, and then, he saw Troy's face move in a bit. They both sat there, their faces almost touching, looking into each other's eyes. Ryan was about to close the distance with his lips, but Troy had broken their silence.

" Umm, I uh... have to go. It's getting late." Troy said it quickly, and then swam out of the grotto, leaving the blonde behind. He didn't see the silent tears streaming down the other's face.


	3. Wow, That Was Awkward

Hey! What's up everyone? I forgot to put an author's note on the last one. Again, I was rushing, so sorry (bows). I would like to thank the (3) people who reviewed my previous chapters, your awesome. It's funny, when I started writing this, I was going through some personal issues. Once I started writing, a lot of my problems didn't seem that bad. It's funny how some things work out.

Chapter 3

The basketball star was quickly walking the familiar path to the kitchens. He ran in and shut himself up in the locker room. He could care less about the water that he would have to clean up in a bit. Exhaling deeply, Troy tried to think about what just happened. Ryan had tried to kiss him, and he panicked and ran off. The brunette stopped dead, and mentally smacked himself. He just ran out on him in the same spot his ex had dumped him, right after telling him to find someone else. What was he supposed to do?! He was straight, and Ryan knew that, but the blonde still tried to kiss him.

Troy unconsciously put his fingers to his lips, the burning in them had faded to all but a memory. Why had the blonde tried to kiss him? Was he sending signals he didn't know about. His questions would remain unanswered for the time being, because there was a knock at the door.

" Troy, are you in there? It's me, Gabriella, Zeke said he saw you run in here," the raven haired girl had already stepped in at this point. " You said we were gonna talk tonight, and I just got off work, but I'm gonna have to leave in five minutes."

Troy had turned himself around at this point.

" It's funny, our situations have switched at the moment," the brunette mumbled quietly to himself. He was remembering what he had said his girlfriend earlier. " I just wanted to see if you were alright, you know from earlier?"

Gabriella had blushed quickly, "Oh, _that_. Well like I said, it's a girl thing. I'm on my period, and I had some pretty bad mood swings this morning. It's really no big deal..."

" Oh," was all that Troy could muster.

" If that's all it was about, then I guess I'll see you tomorrow, bye Wildcat." Gabriella had started to walk away, but Troy stopped her.

" Hey," he kissed her on the cheek. " Bye." Gabriella smiled, and left for the parking lot, where her mom would meet her. Troy was left with himself again, and was left to face his problems once again.

He would talk to Ryan, before he left. He saw all those movies, waiting the next day would only make things impossible to fix. It was better to sort through it all tonight, and not let things get any further.

***

Troy was standing outside of the door of the drama king's room. He had been there for the past twenty minutes, thinking of what to say and how to say it. Then he would put his hand to the door to knock, and forget all of what he had planned to say. Why was this so difficult? It should have been easy, he had told loads of girls before that he wasn't interested in them, and it was never this hard.

Most girls weren't Ryan.

Troy was going over what to say when the door opened. The lights were off, and all he could see was a silhouette, but he could definitely tell it was Ryan.

" Umm.... hi," the brunette greeted, not sounding at all sure of himself.

" What do you want?" The blonde had stepped out into the hallway. His eyes were red and puffy, and his voice sounded like he had been crying.

" I came to talk to you about earlier," Troy had managed to find the words. " I realize it was awful for me to leave, after what I had said, and I wanted to talk to you about it."

The other teen gazed at him, his mind thinking about what to do. The brunette shuffled his feet a bit while he waited for an answer. This obviously wasn't going to work. Troy was about to leave when the blonde had finally spoke.

" Fine, come in. I want to do this in private," Ryan had stepped aside and let the brunette in his room. He turned the light on so they could see. " I really don't get you Troy, most wouldn't have bothered themselves with any of this... but here you are."

Troy had turned around. He saw that the blonde was still seriously hurt, and even if he was putting up a front, it still got to him. Troy knew what he had to do, but he didn't want to. He wanted things to go back to how they were earlier today. He figured he could at least break the tension.

" Could I have something to drink?" Troy asked without thinking.

The drama king rolled his eyes, he walked over to the other side of the room. There was a small refrigerator that Ryan kept cold drinks in. He picked the first soda in there without looking and brought it to Troy.

" Thanks." Troy just held the drink in his hand.

" Well?" The blonde was getting annoyed.

" Ryan, this isn't easy for me. I wish it was, but it's not. I don't know where to start..." Troy had one hand in his hair, the other still clutching the untouched drink.

" Start with when you left, right after telling me to get better over the whole 'depressed' thing," Ryan obviously didn't like him being there.

" I-I don't know why I did it. I just panicked. I saw where it was going, and I chose to stop it. Looking back it was a stupid move, but I didn't have time to think! I'm straight Ryan!" Troy had steadily brought his voice up, and was practically yelling at Ryan.

Ryan had just stood there, he didn't say a word, and his face hadn't moved. Nothing had changed in the blonde's appearance except for the tears welling up in his eyes. He continued to look at the other boy, wishing there was going to be something to save him from this situation. The silence that followed seemed to be unbearable to both of the teens. It was Ryan who spoke first.

" I know your straight, and I know your with Gabriella. What happened tonight I-I... Oh freakin' aye! I wish this was easier!" the blonde crumpled in a heap on the ground. " I... I like you okay! I wish I didn't but I can't help it. When you were with me in the grotto, it brought up all the memories of me and my ex-boyfriend. Then you tell me to bring my 'special someone' over and make it special again. I just followed what I thought was right!" Ryan was sobbing on the floor.

Troy didn't know what to do. His friend was on the floor crying his eyes out, because of him. It was true, Troy had said those things, and he also inadvertently led the other boy on, but none of it was intentional. He bent down, and sat next to the sobbing boy next to him. The brunette put his hand over the blonde's without thinking, who had stopped crying once he felt a warm hand on his own. Two blue eyes met, and what happened next came instinctively.

Ryan pulled his face closer to the brunette, their gazes locked. There was a brief pause between the two of them before it all happened. Their eyes seemed to convey everything that they were thinking. Every question had one answer, every worry had one solution, and every feeling had led up to this. Ryan was the one to initiate it. He lightly pressed his lips upon the other boy, and felt the moan build up in his throat. Troy pressed a little harder upon the blonde, and felt his hands wrap themselves around the drama king. Ryan took it further, moaning, and flicking his tongue across the entrance of the basketball star. The dark haired teen opened his mouth, granting entrance. The sensations he felt were incredible, he felt other's tongue running across his own. Troy soon returned the favor, mimicking the other boy. His moans had been relatively quiet until this point, but he soon ended up soundest of the two. The blonde had shifted himself so that he was laying on his back, and the brunette was above lied there on the floor kissing passionately for the next minute, hands roaming over the others body. The soda had rolled off somewhere, untouched and forgotten. The When they finally broke apart for air, they sat there, basking in the afterglow.

It wasn't until Troy had come to his senses that he finally spoke.

" That was...," it was all the brunette could manage.

He felt the urge to run again, but that was what put him in this situation in the first place. So much for movies teaching him about relationships, things were worse off. He racked his brain, struggling to think of what to say. He wanted to say that it was amazing, and the best kiss he had ever received, but he kept that to himself. He didn't need to say that, because, after all, he was straight.

" It was," Ryan agreed. He had said everything in his statement. It was the best kiss either of them had ever had.

Then came a knocking on the door, followed by an urgent sounding voice.

~*~*~*~*~

The plot thickens! Suspenseful, no? Please send reviews! I really like those. There also needs to be more Troy/ Ryan stories, seriously, there aren't enough. Also, I have some important college projects coming up, so I might not update as soon as I have been.


	4. Thank Goodness for Room Service

Hey, it's the author again. I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO PUT THIS CHAPTER UP! I wrote three different chapter before I decided on this one.

Chapter 4

It was Sharpay.

Ryan looked at the brunette, who was in the same position as when they broke apart. Troy was still in shock. The blonde walked to the door and opened it, but only slightly, so a margin of himself was available to his twin. He was not ready to deal with more drama tonight, and his sister was nothing but drama.

" What's up Sharpay?" Ryan tried to sound nonchalant.

" I was just going over some ideas for the winter musical auditions. I want to start early so we can beat out Troy and his... girlfriend," Sharpay was struggling with the last word. " I thought we could do something far east-ish like a geisha thing, or-"

" This really isn't the best time right now sis," Ryan quickly interjected.

"What do you mean this isn't...," Sharpay looked at her brothers face. " Why's your face all flushed?" She hadn't noticed that his eyes were still swollen. " Oh my god! Are you...," her voice dropped to a whisper, "masturbating?"

The blonde hadn't been expecting _that_, but he was in no mood to continue this.

"Good night sis, I'll see you tomorrow." The drama king closed the door on his twin.

Ryan turned around to see if the basketball star had snapped out of it. Troy was still sitting on the floor, exactly as he was before.

" I'm sorry." The blonde was afraid, had he ruined everything already?

Troy turned around and faced Ryan.

" Sorry about what?" The brunette looked at him questioningly.

"I don't know what to do Troy. This wasn't supposed to happen,' the blonde gazed longingly at the other.

"What wasn't supposed to happen? Your being weird Ryan, well, whatever, I'll see you tomorrow," the brunette got up and dusted himself off. "Thanks for the soda."

"Wait! Don't you think we should talk about this? I mean, what we just did-," Troy gave Ryan a menacing stare.

The blonde was taken aback, Troy had never looked at him like that before.

" I don't know what your talking about Ryan," the way Troy had said his name was so hateful, "but I wouldn't dwell on it."

With those parting words, Troy left the dumb stricken blonde alone in the room. Ryan had soon come to the realization of what the brunette had meant, and what it probably had cost him.

"Oh Troy…"

***

Ryan had spent the next day locked up in his room. He didn't come out to see anyone, or even eat. He felt horrible.

The blonde had been longing for the other boy for so long. He knew that he had more love to give than Gabriella ever did. She ran at the first sign of turbulence, and would only come back, reluctantly, after some coaxing. He had been the one to get Gabriella to come back to the brunette. It was painful to watch them sing that duet and get back together, kissing under the stars. He would have never done that to Troy, he would have been there by his side, willing to make this work.

He knew he shouldn't have tried to kissed Troy first, but the moment had seemed so right. Troy was the one who pressed into it, he could have backed away. It was all too confusing. How was he supposed to face Troy after this? Troy obviously wanted to drop this all, but where did that leave himself?

There were too many questions that Ryan didn't want to answer. He just felt like staying in his room until school started. In his room he had everything he needed- except food, which he could get from room service. It would be easy to forget about his dark haired crush this way. Out of sight, out of mind… right?

It was Ryan's fifth day holed up in his room. The blonde had refused to see anyone from school, and only let his parents in. He had said nothing to them, but did agree to talk to the two later. He had survived on the good graces of room service, although he hardly ate anything. Every time he tried to eat, he would think of the brunette who was probably in the kitchens, and who probably wanted the blonde out of his life.

He was contemplating the prospect of transferring schools, when there was a sharp rapping on the door.

" Ryan! Ryan! You answer this door right now!"

It was Sharpay. The blonde guessed it was to probe her brother about his current moodiness. ' Whatever' thought Ryan. He continued to wallow in his misery under the covers.

" Ryan… please open the door, for me?" She sounded genuinely concerned. They had never been apart for long, this was probably the longest that they have. With reluctance, he made his way to the door. He put his hand on the lock, and paused, not sure what of he wanted to do. He finally let go of the door, and went back into his bed, laying face down into his pillow. There was a rattling at the door, the door knob turned, but stopped halfway. The lock would not allow further movement.

There was a pause, Ryan held his breath hoping that his sister would just leave. The blonde then heard the telltale sounds of her stilettos walking away, and he let out a sigh of relief. ' Sorry sis,' he thought mentally. This was something he wasn't ready to deal with.

***

Troy trudged his way to the kitchens with trepidation. He knew that he would have to face the blonde at some point, and he didn't know what to do. He made it clear to drop what happened, but he also said it in such a hateful way. It wasn't like him to act like that, but he had panicked when he realized that he actually enjoyed kissing his blonde friend. Troy knew he had to make amends for how he acted, and planned on it when he saw his friend, but right now he had to get to work. Fulton was as commanding as always, and had the entire crew working at breakneck speed.

Fulton let up when he managed to scold Taylor to tears. The girl had made a mistake in the itineraries she had made for the crew, which left the workforce in the kitchens with no one to serve the patrons, and Fulton had a fit. He was telling her off when she finally broke down and cried in front of him, and then Chad came by and actually threatened to talk to the Evans' if he ever did that again. This could have been very interesting to Troy if he had nothing better to do, but right now he was still busy convincing himself that he was straight and that what happened last night was due to hormones.

Yes, blame it all on the hormones.

The rest of the day had passed for the brunette without incident. He completed all of his tasks, and went home. He saw no reason to stay any longer, even when his reason came up and said good night. He kind of shrugged it off and left his girlfriend behind him, who was a confused about the change in demeanor in her boyfriend.

It had been four days without seeing the male Evans twin at the club, and Troy was seriously getting worried. Every time he asked Sharpay about her brother, she would get all huffy and say that he was being an idiot. She wouldn't tell Troy that her brother had locked himself in his room.

Troy had been so out of it the past few days, he failed to notice what others were saying around him. If he had, he might have been able to get the blonde out of his mind.

" Are you sure Gabriella?" Taylor had asked the raven haired girl for the tenth time.

" I already said I'm not sure, it's just a feeling I have," Gabriella said with slight hesitation. " When we kissed, it was like a brother/ sister kiss: awkward and I kind of wanted it to just stop. I know that Troy thinks it was special, and that's why I don't want to ask him. Besides, he hasn't spoken to any of us in five days, he must have a big problem on his mind."

" Well, I already spoke to Chad about it, and he says that he can't tell how Troy feels about this," Taylor rubbed her friend's arm for comfort. " I'm not saying that you should stay with Troy to spare his feelings, but I do think you can give him a little time. He needs to snap out of this thing he has before you do anything. You should also try to help him out of it, go talk to him." And with that last sentence, Taylor gave her friend a quick hug, and left.

Gabriella sat on the bench in the locker room and pouted. She knew that Troy had feeling for her, but she wasn't sure if those feelings were his own anymore. Everything seemed to be forced in their relationship, if they hadn't had all the drama in the beginning they might have noticed it before. The winter musicale was something that they enjoyed, and Troy had wanted to do it, but he needed Gabriella to be with him, so it seemed logical to assume that Troy also felt the need to be with her because of it.

The raven haired girl couldn't help but wonder: if they hadn't faced all the ridicule, would Troy and herself be together at all?

She was going to confront the basketball star about it tomorrow, even if he was still out of it. This wasn't something that could wait any longer.

***

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So, here's the chapter. I'm sorry it's a big run around, but I needed to get this chapter done so I can get to the good part. As always, please send reviews ^^


	5. Get Your Hand Off My Ass

Chapter 5

" Oh...Ry-ah, ah...nn…..RYAN!!" Troy screamed loudly as he came hard.

Troy woke up in a cold sweat, shaking. No, he could _not_ be dreaming exactly what he thought he was dreaming, not _again._ This was the fourth night he had a sexy dream about the drama king. He looked under his covers, and found the sticky evidence of shame all over his pants. He sighed deeply, whether or not it happened, he still needed that shower. He got up and winced, he hated the feeling of his pants sticking to him in _that_ way.

He walked out into the hall and went to the linen closet. He picked out his favorite towel, the fluffy one that was his mom's, and went to the shower. He turned on the lights and had to cover his eyes, the lights were way too bright compared to the rest of the house. Once he had the shower water warm, he stepped in, letting the water do most of the cleansing for now.

Okay, he had a wet dream, it wasn't that big of a deal. Tons of guys his age went through this periodical embarrassment, but they usually thought of girls. The memories of his dream floated to the forefront of his mind, and Troy felt his hand go south remembering the feeling of Ryan's touch. The sweaty skin of the blondes torso rubbing against his own chest, and the passionate kisses that they shared, and crying out each other's name as they both came hard. Troy had finally given in and surrendered to his body's carnal desires about three days ago. He found if he did, he didn't have to face the physical embarrassment of his attraction to the blonde during the day.

Troy didn't want to admit it, but Gabriella had never made him this excited before. He always thought that being able to keep your mind off sex was normal, at least until he started thinking about Ryan. With Ryan, he found himself thinking of the blonde's body constantly, especially his ass. During their make out session, he had put both of his hands on the dancer's rear. It was perfect in Troy's opinion, and he tried to remember the feeling as he continued to pleasure himself. He pictured the drama king under him, making him squirm under his own actions. He pictured sucking on his neck, imagining the taste of his flesh. Troy kept these images up until he came hard into his own hand. He bit his lip to keep from saying Ryan's name, knowing it would probably wake up his parents if he did. After a moment of hazy bliss, he started on cleaning himself up.

Troy was back in his room, with new sleeping clothes, and with a clearer mind. He thought about Gabriella, and their current relationship. He always felt bad for his 'actions.' He had been avoiding his girlfriend since the whole thing started, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to continue his relationship with her. He knew he cared for her, he just didn't want to keep her from someone else who could make her truly happy. He was going to have to break up with her.

The brunette paced his room, not feeling like sleeping. He stopped at his desk and examined his pictures. They were all from last year, when he had starred in the winter musicale. There was the cast photo, where everyone was making goofy faces. He smiled at that one, he was on top of Ryan, with both of his hands on the blonde's shoulders. He remembered how upset Ryan got when he knocked off his hat. It was a fedora if he remembered correctly, and an expensive one at that.

Even if he was ready to break up with Gabriella, he still wasn't willing to admit that he liked Ryan- despite what his night time activities were. He needed some space to think things through, and knew that if he stayed with the raven haired girl any longer, he would start to fight with her. It wouldn't be pretty, it was easier to end things now.

***

Troy was ready for work early that day, since he had already been up most of the night. He decided to stay in his room for a while thought so his parents wouldn't bring questions about anything that they might be asking. He was sure he looked haggard and miserable.

After checking his e-mail and browsing a few websites, the basketball star left for work. His parent had gotten used to the idea that he would eat breakfast. In fact they were glad: it eased up on the groceries that he would otherwise have devoured.

The drive to Lava Springs was completely boring, the only eventful thing that happened was he had to swerve to dodge a tumbleweed in the street. Damn tumbleweeds. He pulled up to the country club and parked in his usual parking spot. When he stepped out, he saw Gabriella standing under one of the few trees in the club. She wasn't in her uniform yet, and her white sundress was rustling in the light breeze. Troy hadn't even closed the door to his truck, which took more effort than it should have, when Gabriella spoke.

" Troy…," Gabriella spoke softly, as if it would soften the blow, "we need to talk."

" Sure Gabi, what's up?" He hoped that whatever she said next wouldn't be anything to make his breaking up with her more difficult.

" I think that we need to… what I mean to say is that…" The raven haired girl was trying her best to think of the best way to tell him this. "We need to break up." There, quick and easy.

" Oh… um okay," Troy was taken slightly aback at the suddenness of it.

" I'm sorry Troy, I know that you wanted this to work, but I think we need to move on." She sounded like she at least planned those words.

" Honestly Gabi, I'm a little glad to hear you say that," the athletic brunette replied.

" What? Why?"

" Because, I was planning on breaking it off with you too Gabi." He put his hand on her own smaller hand. " I'm just glad it was you, because I knew I wouldn't have found the courage to say it so directly."

" You were planning on breaking up with me?" She felt a little sore that he wanted it to end too.

" Yes, I know that there's someone else out there who can make you happier than I can, and I don't want to hold you from that." His blue eyes met hers, and he smiled. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. " Now come on, let's go before Fulton gives us another warning."

" Do you think he'll ever fire us?"

" Not if Sharpay or Ryan can help it," Troy grinned at his former girlfriend.

The walk to the kitchens was quiet, but it was a comfortable silence. Neither of them felt the need to break it.

When they did clock in, the first person who came up to them was Taylor. She saw them so close together that she had to ask.

" Did you and Troy fix the problem?" The scholar-ette questioned.

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other, smiling.

" We broke up." They said in unison.

" What?" exclaimed Taylor, " I thought you were gonna fix things between you two, not end them."

"Well, we both knew that it was ending, and we wanted to remain friends, so in a way, this did fix things," Gabriella looked at Troy. " Isn't that it?

" For the most part," the brunette didn't feel the need to mention his night time issues.

" Well, it's sad to see you guys end it so soon, but if that's what you guys really needed, then I guess I'm happy for you." Taylor gave her friend a big hug and walked away. Troy soon followed suit, leaving his former girlfriend by herself.

" If anyone asks, I broke up with you first…," she said quietly to herself.

Troy had kitchen duty today, which he was happy for. His lack of sleep made him irritable, and it would not go well with picky patrons. He helped wash dishes, deliver room service, and anything else that could be done to help the cooks in the kitchen. He enjoyed taking the food to the patrons' rooms, because it gave him some time to think by himself. He made up his mind last night to quit dwelling on what happened and try to get back to a sense of normalcy. His friends were glad to have the old Troy back, and he was happy to give it to them, even if the new Troy was still around. He hoped new Troy would leave soon, he was starting to get his nerves.

Troy had another delivery to take. It had special instruction to simply leave the food in the hall, and call his room when it was delivered. The brunette thought it was odd, but didn't question it. He pushed the cart full of ice, glasses, and a simple green salad to the direction of the room. He didn't know anything about the layout of the club yet, but the numbering and labeling of the buildings made it easy for him to find the rooms he needed to get to. He finally reached a hallway that was identical to the other ones before it. He read the room number, and then read the slip of paper. Yep, job accomplished.

Troy went back into the kitchens and dialed the number on the paper to let the patron know his food was waiting. He had to wait a few moments before it was answered. A rough, groggy voice answered the phone.

" Hello." Troy's mind stopped for a moment. It was Ryan! He was hiding in his room!

Troy quickly conjured up a voice, so that he wouldn't be recognized on the phone, " Um, yes, this is room service letting you know that your food is on it's way, it should be there in about three minutes."

There was a pause on the phone. "Okay, I'll be at the door in five minutes."

'Yes!' thought Troy mentally. He found out where Ryan was. He quickly lied to Zeke about going to the bathroom and headed in the direction of the blonde's room. He raced past the pool and nearly broke his neck on the slick concrete, but he shook it off quickly, not wanting to miss Ryan. When he finally reached the drama king's room, he was shocked to see Ryan standing in the doorway, eating his salad and looking at the boy who raced to get here.

" I've said it before Bolton, your a horrible actor. I could tell it was you on the phone the second you spoke." He had a dark look in his eye that Troy couldn't interpret.

" I- I don't know what to say. What I did to you was awful, and I want to say I didn't mean it, but I don't think I can." He looked at Ryan's blue eyes, seeing the hurt that he tried to hide. " I'm sorry."

The blonde stood there in the doorway, silently mouthing Troy's last words. His face felt hot, and he also felt the sting of his tears coming up behind his eyes. " I'm sorry, that's all you can ever say isn't it?" He looked at Troy, giving him a furious stare. "I'm sorry Ryan, I didn't mean to kiss you back. I didn't mean to run my hands all over you body, and I certainly didn't mean to grab you ass! Could you just forget that please, because it was all just a mistake!" Ryan was holding back his tears, determined not to cry in front of his tormentor. " Forget everything that happened, including having you first kiss. You hear me Ryan? Forget ever having your first kiss!"

" You...that- that was your first kiss? What about your other boyfriend? Weren't you with him for a while?" Troy replied quietly.

" Yes, it was my first kiss. Me and my boyfriend never kissed during the whole duration of our relationship. It really shouldn't surprise you Bolton, it took you over half a year to kiss Gabriella." Ryan spat these words at Troy with venom. He was livid. " Why did it take you so long to kiss her? You had no problem kissing me a few nights ago. Hell, you don't even _care_ about me, and you went further with me than you did with Gabriella. Am I some fuck toy to you? Because I don't want to be in any part of you life if that's why."

He went into his room and slammed the door, leaving Troy in the hall.

Troy sighed deeply, knowing it could be much longer before Ryan was able to forgive him. The brunette reluctantly walked away from the situation, completely unaware of the blonde girl down the hall, who had heard most of the argument. Sharpay, who most would consider self centered and heartless, felt sympathy for her brother. She had a suspicion that her brother was gay, but she let him have his space, knowing he would come to her when he was ready. Well, he may have not told her directly, but the situation was dire. She needed to be there for her little brother.

She strutted over to his room and gave it her signature knock. No one answered the door, but she let herself in anyways. The room was dark, but it was still clean. She expected no less than perfect from Ryan, who used to polish off his dancing trophies at least once a week. She didn't see him anywhere in the room, but it was so damn dark she probably looked past him already.

" Ryan? It's me. I just wanted to talk to you," she paused, still looking for her twin.

She was startled by the sudden movement from the bed, apparently he was under the very fluffy feather down comforter. She walked over to the bed, and sat at the edge, putting one of her finely manicured hands on what she thought was his back.

" Get your hand off my ass Sharpay." An annoyed voice came from the covers.

The blonde girl quickly obliged, not wanting to touch her brother so intimately. She pulled back the covers to see her brother's face, but instead she saw his pale feet sticking out.

" What are you doing laying upside down?" It brought a small smile to her face.

" What are you doing in my room?" His voice was flat and unreadable.

" I was down the hall, getting my cell phone from the charger, and I heard yelling coming from your side of the building." She lifted the other side of the covers, this time blue eyes meeting her own. " I came over here, and I saw you and Troy. I wasn't going to walk away, you've been in here for days now. I miss you."

Ryan cursed himself for being so public about it.

" Look sis, this isn't something I really want to talk about. Besides, you heard pretty much everything that happened already in the hallway."

" No I haven't," Sharpay said lightly, " I still don't know how my little brother feels about it."

Ryan didn't know what to say. He expected her to be furious with him for trying to get with the same guy she wanted. Instead she was here, trying to comfort him. The blonde thought he knew everything about his sister. Guess not.

Ryan took a deep breath, getting ready to explain how everything came about.

***

" So, that's about it. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal…" He trailed off.

" It's a lot more than you think it is Ryan." She gave him a hug. " Today Troy and Gabriella broke up."

" What? Why did they break up?"

" Not sure, it was mutual according to Zeke." She then added, "Taylor says that Troy was becoming distant, and that Gabriella would rather be friends."

" It's probably my fault…" Ryan mumbled to himself.

Sharpay put her hand under Ryan's chin, bringing his eyes to hers.

" Don't blame yourself Ryan. Gabriella runs from that relationship every time they hit a bump. As far as I'm concerned, it was going to happen by the time summer ended anyways." She gave her brother a warm smile, which he returned.

" Thanks Sharpay, I forget that sometimes you can be a great sister."

" I know I'm great, you don't need to tell me that." Her mood then turned more grave. " And, when your ready, when you tell mom and dad, I'll be with you no matter what."

The twins sat on the bed, the silence between the was comfortable.

" So, tell me again," Sharpay said, with a glint in her eye, "what's it like kissing Troy Bolton?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yay! A new chapter! So, this one is longer than the last one, I felt inspired. Anyways, send reviews, ooh, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

BTW: I've been considering a beta reader, send a message if your interested.


	6. Caught In The Closet

Hey everyone, it's the author again. I just wanted to clarify something before you read this chapter: the ***'s either show a change in POV or a gap in time. That's all.

Chapter 6

The next day, Troy acted as if nothing happened at all. He felt awful, but he was still determined to be the old Troy, his friends had dealt with new Troy enough this summer. He made it through the day focusing himself solely on his work and making sure everything he did was absolutely perfect. Not only did it keep his mind busy, he had been tipped better today than any of the other days he served people.

Chad had made conversation with him, and he remembered responding, but he had no idea what Chad was saying. He hoped it wasn't very important. Also, Taylor had tried to get him to spill the details on why Gabriella and him had broken up. He tried to steer the conversation in a different direction, hoping to avoid the question, but Taylor was persistent. All he told her was that he was going through some personal issues, and it wouldn't be fair to Gabriella if he wasn't committed to the relationship. Taylor added that it seemed like cop out for another reason, hinting that he may be cheating on her.

Troy denied that he was cheating on Gabriella, but he could not help but feel that he may have been lying. Did it count if he kissed a guy? Would he have to like guys in order for it to be considered cheating? His kiss with Ryan was really good, better than the kiss he shared with Gabriella, but he was pretty sure he didn't like Ryan. He thought that Ryan was just a good kisser. A really, really good kisser.

He was mulling over his possible sexuality when a person thumped him on the shoulder.

"Hey Troy." Said Kelsi in an excited voice.

" Oh, hey Kelsi. How are you today?" Troy replied in his most upbeat voice.

" Well, I just talked to Fulton, and he's allowing me to play some of my new pieces during work. I just have to make sure it doesn't over power the relaxed atmosphere. I also have started working on some of the ideas for the winter musicale." She showed him the thick folder, filled with papers, that she had previously thumped him with. "I wanted to do something dramatic, with a lot of drama."

" You just started writing, that folder is huge." Troy gestured to the folder. " I think I could fit all of my homework from last year in that." The brunette then began to question the short girl on the plot of the musicale, "So what's this year's musicale going to be about?"

" I'm honestly not sure, there's about three different scripts in different stages of writing. I really like all of the ideas I have, so I may finish all of them and let Mrs. Darbus decide which one she likes more." Kelsi said all of this very quickly.

" How can you write three different plays?" Troy asked incredulously. "That sounds like a lot of work for just a high school musical."

" Well, I have lots of plays I've never submitted. I plan to use them for my portfolio for college next year. I have been thinking of going to-"

" KELSI!!" Fulton's voice pierced the kitchen's walls. " I have been calling you for the past five minutes. You have diners that need entertaining, or would you rather take your music elsewhere?"

Troy quickly said goodbye to his vertically challenged friend and went back to work. He had a half hour left on his break and he felt like taking a walk. He grabbed his cell and headed out for a long walk. Troy was walking by the yoga room when he saw a flash of blonde. He quickly scanned the room and saw what he was hoping to. There was Ryan Evans bent in a backwards arch, exposing his creamy pale stomach. The brunette watched as the dancer's stomach rose and fell slowly. He then switched positions and was bent over with his palms flat against the floor. Troy couldn't help but stare at the male Evan's rear as he moved. He was enamored with the blonde. Troy was about to walk over to the blonde, but stopped himself. Ryan didn't want to talk to him, and walking up to him would probably make things worse. Reluctantly, the brunette went onwards.

Troy watched as his world began to fall apart. He was the star of the school's basketball team, and he also broke barriers by auditioning for the winter musicale. He always went for anything he ever wanted, the only impedance came from earlier this year, but this was something totally different. He was beginning to like Ryan Evans. He hoped it was a phase, just a curiosity fueled by his raging hormones and lack of a sex life. Something he could fix with a little lady at his side. That was it! Troy could find himself a new girlfriend that would keep his mind off of Ryan. All he had to do was choose, hell, half of the school's female population were pawing at him. He just needed to find someone.

With a new resolve, a much happier Troy walked back to the staff room of the kitchens. He didn't notice that a certain blonde was watching him the entire time.

***

Sharpay watched wide eyed as Troy Bolton, the basketball god of East High, checked out her brother at his yoga class. She figured what had happened the other night between Troy and her brother was a mistake, and it would soon settle itself out. She didn't count on him actually liking her brother. The blonde let out a deep sigh, it figures that after chasing after Troy for so long the prize would go to her brother. She had little energy left, and went back to her room knowing of no way to help the situation. They would have to figure this out on their own, but who knew how long that would take-boys are so stupid.

***

Meanwhile, Troy was on his way back to the all too familiar kitchens. He was glad that the day was almost over, then he could go home and drown out his thoughts in sugar and action movies. He just had to wash the dishes and bring all of the table cloths to the laundry room for cleaning. He was able to do all of his work in a half hour, but he knew better than to just leave. The Wildcats had a tradition of helping out each other finish their work. After all, they were all in this together. He went to see if anyone needed any help.

It wasn't long before he found Jason, since he was in the kitchens. Jason had to mop the entire kitchen, which was a one person job, so Troy did the other thing Jason was assigned: gather up the pool umbrellas and chairs. As the basketball star was gathering up the chairs, he thought he heard somebody walk by, but when he turned around no one was there. How queer. Troy then laughed at the expression he thought of, remembering when he first heard it in drama.

" Hey captain." Said an all too familiar voice.

Troy jumped at the unexpected voice behind him. He dropped the chairs he was carrying, and the sudden weight change cased him to slip on the slippery pool cement. He fell hard on his ass.

" Ow…" Troy groaned as he tried to get himself up.

" Woah man, I didn't expect you fall. Are you okay?" Chad asked the question biting back the urge to laugh at his friend. " You fell pretty hard on your ass."

" I'm okay, I guess," Troy took a step and flinched. " I think I might have bruised my ass." Troy added, knowing he prone to bruising easily.

" Well, at least you aren't a nudist, then you would have to explain why your ass was so banged up." Chad managed to say suggestively in between fits of laughter.

The brunette cracked a smile at the sexual innuendo, admitting it was funny even if his ass hurt like hell. He mentally picture himself bent over with a very sweaty Ryan behind him, making Troy yell out his name. The brunette was lost in his thoughts for a moment when a tightening in his pants told him it was time to get out of there.

" Hey man, I gotta go put this stuff away, but I'll see you later okay?" Troy said quickly, wanting to hide in the storage closet .

" Sure man, hopefully you don't bruise. I know you bruise like a banana. See you later."

Troy let out a sigh of relief when his bushy haired friend began his walk over to the parking lot. He quickly grabbed the last of the chairs and went into the storage closet. He knew the kitchens would be full of the remaining Wildcats getting ready to leave. He bit his lip, knowing the only way to get rid of this situation would be rather...sticky. He made sure the door was locked and began to unbutton his pants.

***

Ryan Evans came out of his room the next day, for the first time in nearly a week. His parents were happy, and chose not to bombard him with questions right away. They wanted him to get over what he went through before he had to relive it again. Ryan began his usual activities right away. He went to the spa and got a facial and massage, he ate the most fatty and expensive item on the lunch menu, and he attended his yoga class to get rid of some of the calories he ate. Yoga was his favorite time of the day, the quite and calm atmosphere let him mull over things while he worked on his flexibility and strengthened his muscles. It was a win-win. He left his yoga class rather sweaty, and decided to take a shower before he met Sharpay at the dance studio. They were beginning the planning for the winter musicale. It was a collaborative effort between Sharpay, Kelsi, and himself. He knew there would be conflict because Sharpay and Kelsi always had different ideas on what the winter musicale should be like.

Ryan stepped into the marble shower in his room. He let the hot water beat down on his sore muscles, relieving some of the tension in him. He thought about his day, and how everyone had acted so normal around him. He felt slightly put off that no one doted over him after he locked himself away for days. Maybe he was around is sister too much, but he felt that someone should fuss over him. Only one person had, and that was Troy. Thinking of the brunette brought both anger and heartache for the blonde. He still liked the golden boy, but he knew that he was also unattainable. Troy had told him over and over that he was straight, and Ryan had to accept that. He supposed he could be friends with Troy Bolton, but that wouldn't be for a while. He knew he wouldn't be able to control himself in his current state.

Ryan stepped out of the shower and quickly got dressed, choosing to leave his hair as it was since it was already late. He stepped out into the warm summer dusk, looking at the brilliant orange and pink hues take over the sky. He ambled along, wanting to keep things relaxed for now while his sister wasn't around. He heard a soft noise coming from the pool area. Intrigued, he went over to investigate. The sounds were coming from the storage closet. Getting closer, Ryan soon identified the sounds as moans. This was crazy there was a person or persons in there doing...things. He wanted to know who was in there, but he didn't want to seem like a pervert. He started to walk away when he heard the voice again.

" Mmm… uh...Ry-Ry…,"said a deep throaty voice.

Ryan stopped dead. It was Troy in the storage closet, and he sounded like he was by himself.

" Urgh, oh...Ry-Ry...RYAN!" The scream that came from behind the closed door was clear enough to know there was no mistake in what he said.

Ryan was rooted to the spot, not able to move. He knew the brunette behind the chestnut door would be out in a moment, but he was frozen, in shock of what he just heard. Troy Bolton was in the storage room masturbating to himself. After all that he went through and all that Troy emphasized he was straight, he ended up pleasuring himself to the image of Ryan Evans. The events unfolding were causing the blonde's pants to become uncomfortably tight. The door was unlocking, and Ryan was still in front of the door. He wanted to run, but he couldn't.

***

The door opened slowly, and Troy came out, his cheeks flushed scarlet. He looked around and stopped dead, looking straight at the blonde. He took a quick glance at Ryan's bulge, knowing instantly it was a bad idea. He was becoming awfully hot again.

"H-hey Ryan." Was all Troy could manage.

" Hey," Ryan said in a false cheerful voice. "How have you been?"

" Good, I've been keeping busy." He stopped dead, thinking about the dual meanings if that statement.

"That's… good." Ryan said trying not to laugh.

"Well, I'll be seeing you." The brunette said.

Troy quickly walked away, knowing he would need another...cold shower. He shivered at the thought. How he wished this would go away.

He drove home and went straight the shower, wanting the urges in his body to stop. The icy water shocked his system, and he gasped as he tried to breathe once more. This sucked, and it was all Chad's fault. If he hadn't scared him- he stopped his thought. It wasn't fair to blame Chad, this had been a problem for a while now. He just wanted it to go away. He let the cold water take over his thoughts and soon forgot about the blonde. He instead thought of the roast that his mom was making in the oven, and how much he was hungry. He would choose the roast over sugar any day.

That night Troy considered his relationship with Ryan. He felt attracted to the blonde, but did that mean he was gay? No, he still definitely still liked girls. Maybe he was bisexual, that wasn't so bad. Did he like guys? No, the thought of a penis other than his or Ryan's made him feel grossed out. So what was he? Troy considered all of this until he fell into an restless sleep.

***

Ryan, couldn't concentrate, his mind kept going back to what he witnessed only a few moments ago. His sister was still arguing with Kelsi, well actually Sharpay was yelling at Kelsi, and Kelsi would utter a meek suggestion before his sister exploded again. It was a good time to think, otherwise he'd go crazy. Sometimes he thought his sister might have had something to do with turning him gay. He certainly didn't want to be with anyone like Sharpay.

He thought back and relived the moment that Troy must have came. He certainly was screaming. He felt his face get hot again. He figured Troy had made a mistake that night, and hormones had fueled the majority of that kiss. Now he felt that the East High Golden Boy was hiding something that he may not want to admit to even himself. Troy must be in denial about being gay, or bisexual, whatever. Ryan felt sorry for Troy, because he knew how hard it would be for Troy to come to terms with this. Ryan had always known he was gay, and it was still hard. He couldn't imagine coming to that realization so far into your life. How would the brunette take it if Ryan confronted him? He would probably distance himself from the situation, so that wouldn't work. He continued to scheme of ways to get Troy to realize he was gay, or bisexual. Whatever…

After three hours of Sharpay's temper tantrum, the three finally left for their respective bedrooms, or home in Kelsi's case. In bed, Ryan found a new resolve. He would re-befriend Troy Bolton, and try to salvage a relationship out of this snowballing catastrophe. If Troy could beat him out of the winter musicale, anything was possible.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Woot! I have another chapter done! I kind of made it a goal to write more in each chapter than the previous one. Hopefully I can keep churning out more stuff. So, there are some revelations in this chapter, but I can't say what's going to happen next. Honestly, I just write on a whim abd most things just come to mind. One of these days I will have to take a hiatus to figure out what I actually want to happen in this story. I want to end it soon, so I can start some new ones. I already have two I wanna do. One is a dark angsty- angst story full of angst, and the other is a humor/ parody of the series. I already know what I want to title the parody: High School Stories: The Fabulous Misadventure of The East High Gang. I'm not sure what the character limit is for title, so I may have to word it different. Well, anyways I gotta end this now. Please send reviews!!! Thanks ^^


	7. Highs and Lows of the Mall

Chapter 7

Troy woke up early that morning. He had the usual dream again, but at least he wasn't left with the usual mess. The brunette was about to get his things together when he remembered that he had the day off today. How lucky, it was pretty rare to get the day off at the club, but thankfully Taylor's planning concerning the schedule gave everyone at least one day off every month. Troy was certain she would be able to leave high school and go straight to a management job.

Putting on his comfortable shorts and a t-shirt, the athletic teen went down to eat the biggest bowl of sugary cereal he could consume. Most of his friends thought he was strange for liking the cereals with little cartoon characters on them, but Troy insisted that those had the best cereals. He didn't mention he had collected almost enough box tops to get a vintage t-shirt of one of the cereal box characters on it. He plopped himself down on the couch to immerse himself in mindless entertainment. The brunette had flipped through many channels before he settle on a documentary on deadly ants. What was the point of hundreds of channels if there was nothing to watch?

Troy had just about liquified his brain when his cell phone had startled him. He had set it in vibrate and rested it in his lap. Sudden vibrations coming from your lap would startle most. He answered it.

" Hello?"

"Hey Troy it's Gabriella." Gabriella greeted kindly.

" Hey Gabi, what's up" Troy said without much thought,

" Well Troy," Gabriella said, still not liking the pet name, "we both have the day off, and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today."

" Oh, sure that sounds great. Did you need me you pick you up?" Troy asked. "I just need to get some better clothes on."

" No, I'm already at the mall. Just call me when you get here."

"M'kay."

"Bye Wildcat."

"Bye Gabi."

The brunette glanced at his cereal and grimaced. No more sugar for Troy. He pulled out some clothes and threw them on, knowing it probably wouldn't match, and left. The drive to mall was long, because there was so much traffic, and he cursed himself for taking the busiest street. The other road was always much faster, yet he avoided going there. After a half hour of driving he finally reached his destination. Too bad for Troy. It was another ten minutes before he found parking for his truck. Okay, _now_ he was there.

He met up with Gabriella in the more expensive section of the mall. She had no bags with her, but she was carrying two large fruit smoothies in each hand.

" There you are Troy! What took so long?"

" Traffic...and parking.. Traffic and Parking." He said stupidly. "What's with the smoothies?"

" I got them for us, I've been holding them for five minutes. My hands are numb, can you please hold them?" Her hands were shaking, clearly indicating that they were tired.

Troy took the cups, and soon began to sympathize with his ex-girlfriend, they were indeed cold.

" So, what are we doing today?" Troy asked, trying to take his mind off of the cold.

" I thought we could go dress shopping, but I think we need to get you some decent clothes first." The raven haired girl responded, looking at his choice of clothes.

" Hey, I have decent clothes, remember the Italian shoes?" He said playfully.

" Those were rich clothes, I mean decent. Casual clothes that look good, not expensive." She replied as she steered the two towards a different part of the mall.

" Then why are we heading towards all of the expensive stores?"

"Shut up Troy," she said playfully. "These aren't that expensive, especially compared to your Italian shoes. Those cost, like, over eight hundred dollars."

" What? I thought they cost at the most two hundred." Troy exclaimed, clearly surprised at the cost of his shoes. He would definitely be taking very good care of those.

" Which clearly shows that you know nothing about clothes. Your just lucky that most of your clothes are t-shirts and jeans. They all go together."

"Whatever."

***

Troy and Gabriella had spent the next two hours trying everything on the brunette teen. He had accumulated quite a large pile of clothes that Gabriella told him he needed. He didn't really like them, and he also couldn't afford all of them, so he left the store with a scandalized Gabriella and a very stoney faced sales lady. She had been helping the raven haired for the past hour with Troy's clothes, thinking they would be buying something.

Troy sat on the bench outside the store, clearly miffed. Why did he need a silk shirt? What's wring with cotton? Sure, silk was...well, silkier, but he was fine with his clothes as it was. A silk shirt was so Ryan. He could picture Ryan in a silk shirt, in fact, he could picture it very clearly. It was as if the real Ryan were wearing it and coming towards him.

"Hey Troy." Said the not-so-imaginary Ryan.

"Oh! Umm, hey Ryan."

"What's with the shocked face? You watched me come up to you." Ryan said with a slightly hurt face.

" Oh, well Gabi has been trying to get me to buy all of these clothes. One of them was a silk shirt, and I thought that it was more something you would wear." Ryan chuckled at the statement. "Then I pictured you in a silk shirt, and then you came up to me. I thought you were imaginary."

"Well, as you can see Troy, I'm very real." He replied with a smirk. "Now tell me, was I wearing anything else besides that silk shirt?" Ryan asked, his eyebrows arched in a suggestive manner. "Or was this some fantasy of yours I am currently part of?"

Troy nearly choked on well, nothing. He looked at Ryan with a surprised look. Had the blonde heard him the other night in the closet? He had willed himself into thinking that he hadn't. But then again, it did explain the bulge that Ryan had that day. How much did Ryan hear? Troy quickly changed his expression from surprised to a simple smirk.

"Ha-ha Ryan. Like you'd be even wearing a shirt." Two could play at this game.

" Well." Ryan didn't really know how to follow up that one

"Umm, Ryan?" Said Troy nervously, not wanting to ruin the moment, but being a guy, it was something he could not avoid.

"Yes Troy," retorted Ryan, unaware of the change in demeanor of the brunette teen.

"Are we not going to talk about what happened? I like the fact that we are back on friendly terms, but is this the end of it?" Troy said slowly, hoping to soften the blow.

Ryan tensed, forgetting that he was even mad at Troy. The situation became awkward once more as the blonde considered himself. Was he still mad at Troy? He knew he wasn't but he was still hurt from what had happened. He sighed, knowing being stubborn would do nothing to help the situation.

"No Troy," Ryan gave a sad smile to the other boy. "We aren't going to mention it anymore. I still am hurt by what you did, but I want to get past all of that and go back to what we had."

"Okay," Troy replied slowly. "Before we drop this, I just want to say how truly sorry I am. I never meant to hurt you, I was just being self centered and didn't consider how it would affect you."

His blue eyes met Ryan's for a moment, and he felt his chest swell. Even if would not admit to himself that he liked Ryan, he could at least apologize for his behavior. He had never been so callous to anyone else like that before, and it had unnerved him. He had always thought of himself as a role model for everyone else. This darker side of him had come up out of the confusion, and almost ruined a budding friendship. Troy's inner thoughts were cut short by a certain raven hired beauty coming towards them.

"Hey Ryan! I didn't expect you to be here." Gabriella wrapped the blonde in a tight embrace. "So, what brings you to the mall?"

"I was bored. I can only be at the club so long before I get tired of it all." Ryan confessed with a smile. "Sharpay loves being waited on though, we have to tear her away from it when it closes every year."

"That's not surprising, considering that it _is_ Sharpay we're talking about." Troy added.

"Whatever Troy, at least Sharpay knows how to dress." Retorted Gabriella playfully.

"Ouch, that burned from here." Ryan shook his hand as if it really did burn.

"Well you guys, I'm going to go to the bathroom. Go ahead and explore, I also have to fix my make up, I'll call you to see where you are." She then trotted away, her heels clicking with each step.

"So, what do you wanna do?" Asked Ryan.

"Eat." Troy replied.

***

The two East High boys walked around the mall, each eating an ice cream cone. Troy had gone for the rocky road with chocolate syrup, while Ryan chose birthday cake and gummi bears mixed in. They both licked at the iced treats as they pointed out various oddities that could only be described as bad fashion sense. Who in their right mind would buy a leather button up t-shirt? Or a wool boxers at that?

The two found it strange that Gabriella wasn't back from the bathroom, and had tried to call her several times, but she did not pick up the phone. They began to worry, and went back to where they first met up. Nothing. After a half hour of searching, they decided to take a break. Albuquerque wasn't a bad city, and nothing bad ever happened in their neighborhood.

"Hey Troy, let's sit down, my feet hurt." Whined Ryan, shuffling his feet to prove a point.

"Okay, there's a bench over there. We can sit down for a bit." Troy pointed to the side where several benches were placed next to an indoor fountain.

Ryan was the first to sit down. He plopped quite ungracefully into the seat, causing it to move to the side a few inches. This was unnoticed by the brunette, and he plopped himself on the bench just as ungracefully as the former. The change in placement of the bench had put the pair closer than both had intended, and their hand's ended up touching. One over the other, reminiscent of that fateful night's events. It was a moment before either of them moved their hands. They did not want to break apart, but the facades they had put up would not allow them that simple pleasure. Troy moved his hand, but not before slowly running it over the soft skin of his companion. The simple touch sent shivers down Ryan's spine. His mind was racing, vivid memories of their past encounter playing over in not only his head, but Troy's too.

Troy could not stand having this feeling inside him: longing was something he did not know until recently. His breath had become shallow, and his cheeks flushed scarlet. He turned to face his crush, knowing he could not run from his feelings anymore. The simple gaze they shared showed longing for the other, but they denied their hearts for a simple friendship. A shrill feminine voice brought them crashing back to their cruel realities.

"There you guys are! I've been looking for you." Gabriella's voice an octave higher than usual.

"What? We tried calling you." Uttered a bewildered brunette.

"Yeah, and you wouldn't answer your phone. I kept getting an annoying ringback tone." Ryan shook a dramatic finger at the girl. "Hip- hop is _so_ dead!"

"I dropped my phone in the toilet. I had to get the janitor to fish it out for me." She held up a zip lock bag with a wet phone in it.

"Eww…" The two boys said in unison.

"Whatever, I just wanted to tell you that aI have to go. I called my mom on phone at customer service, and she wants to take me to the phone store to see if I can get this one serviced." She looked at the bag with the infected phone. "Or replaced."

"M'kay Gabs, I guess we'll see you some other time." Troy gave his friend a hug.

"Yup, just don't ever let me use your phone again if it doesn't get replaced." Ryan joked as he gave the raven haired girl a hug as well.

"Gee, your so thoughtful. I gotta go, so bye you guys." She turned around, but stopped after a few steps and turned back. "Behave, and don't do anything I wouldn't do," she added witha suggestive waggle of her hips.

"What does she mean?" Troy asked stupidly.

" No clue." Replied and equally dumbfounded blonde.

***

As Gabriella walked away, her smile faded. So that was the reason that her and Troy had broken up, Troy was beginning to like Ryan. It made sense, why he was distant lately, and how it matched up with when Ryan went into hiding. Today confirmed her suspicions, when she saw the two interacting on the bench, she could see immediately that the pair had an attraction for each other. Whether or not they acted on it was an entirely different story. Boys were stupid when it came to matters of the heart, choosing to make things more complicated than was necessary. She figured she would scope out Sharpay, and see if she had any information on the situation. If there was one thing that Gabriella could not stand, it was not knowing what was going on.

***

Troy and Ryan had explored the sights of the mall one last time before they called it a day. The two had chatted about themselves and things that most people never knew about themselves. Overall, it was a very enjoyable afternoon, and they wanted to do it again soon. They bade their farewells and went their separate ways, knowing they would meet again the next day, although under different conditions.

Ryan went back to the club, feeling much better than he had in a week. He was back on speaking terms with Troy Bolton, and if things kept progressing, he may even get to be with the brunette. Today's encounter showed that Troy obviously had feelings for the blonde. The way that Troy's cheeks flushed and how he licked his lips was quite a sight to behold. If only he could make that image his wallpaper on his mental desktop.

He went into his marble shower, noticing that the sliver fixtures were in need of a cleaning. He would call room service later. He put on the hot water, letting the heat engulf his body. He recalled Troy's face today, and combined it with the sensations he had felt that fateful day. It brought excitement to his lower half, and he moved his hand towards his erection. He worked slowly, bringing all of the images of Troy to mind that would increase his pleasure. He also recalled the sounds that the brunette made when he pleasured himself to the thought of the blonde. His body twitched under his hand's movements as he reached his climax. He whimpered as he came, and softly called out the brunette's name. Pleasure washing over him, he slid to the floor, panting. Troy was like a drug he couldn't shake off. After a few minutes, he brought his shaking body back up to the hot water for proper cleansing.

***

Troy got home in time for dinner, and ate the steaks that his parents cooked up greedily. Despite his feelings, he never passed up the opportunity to eat. Halfway through the dinner, his parents asked him how the mall was. He quickly lied about Gabriella and his day, not wanting to bring up Ryan in front of his parents. They acted like they accepted everyone, but wasn't sure if it was a front or not. He was scared to find out. What if he really was gay? Would they throw him out, or would they at least deal with him until he was eighteen? All these thoughts floated through his mind while he finished is dinner. His dad droned on about some basketball game he could care less about.

The truth was, the brunette had lost his interest in the game over the year. The winter musicale had opened his eyes to new and exciting things that he had never considered before. The winter show was thrilling, and although he may have claimed to be done with it, he wanted to do it again. He didn't mind a supporting role, he just wanted to be on the stage again. He also wanted to look into other sources of creativity. He thought about writing, or painting. He always loved thinking up stories in his head, might as well put them on paper, and painting didn't have to be pretty. It could be raw, gritty, and mean almost anything to the beholder. You put your soul on the canvas and it didn't have to look like a picture. It could be abstract, or nothing at all. He was lost in his thoughts when a voice brought him back to reality. His dad was talking to him.

"So what do you think Troy?" His dad asked enthusiastically.

"What?" Troy replied.

"I was saying how we should really practice hard this year. You could use you second free period to practice more." His dad grinned at him. "It's not like you have anything important to do this year."

What about finding himself? Did his dad ever consider that? Why couldn't he just drop out of basketball? He wanted to be normal, he was tired of being The Golden Boy of East High. He wanted to be That Kid in the school. Troy wanted to protest, but he just nodded his head slowly. He could not find the courage to go against his father. His downcast face must have showed, because his mother quickly chimed in.

"Honey, calm down. Troy hasn't even signed up for his classes yet. Why not let him decide what he wants to do this year? His basketball career is pretty much taken care of, let him choose something new this year. You can't create a rounded person by going in a straight line." Mrs. Bolton chose to end her sentence with a rather corny saying.

Troy was grateful that his mom was his his side, otherwise he may well have been in two basketball practices this year. He face felt hot at the thought of his dad. Jack Bolton's dream was to be a professional basketball player, but when he failed to accomplish that, he moved to his son. Living through your son could only last so long, and Troy was beginning to see that his future was not his own, but his dad's.

"I'm just saying. I want out team to be the best this year! We can't do it with out our golden boy here!" He gave his son a slap on the back.

Troy snapped.

"Why is everything always on me!?" He burst, unable to contain himself any longer. "There is the entire other team too, and you don't put nearly as much pressure on them as you do me! I don't want to do basketball anymore!" He paused, all of his emotions coming to the forefront of his mind. "Not if this is what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life.! I want to be normal, I want to try new things, make mistakes and not have to disappoint everyone when it happens! I want my own life." He cried out. "Not yours."

He stormed off to his room. His parents left in the wake of Troy's outburst. His father face had contorted from confusion to anger. He was going to have a talk with that boy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Woot! I have another chapter done! I'm so happy, I've been able to write more and more every chapter, and the plot if really starting to form in my mind. I still am planning those other two fics, and may take a detour from here to start those. This is beginning to look like it's going to be quite long time, and I don't want to wait to finish this.

Also please send reviews! They make me write faster, really, they do! LOLz ^^


	8. Loss of a Friend

**Important Author's Note at end of Chapter!**

Chapter 8

Troy was laying on his bed, immediately regretting his outburst at dinner. He hadn't meant to shout, but after a year of being pushed to be perfect he was breaking down. The entire school was always watching him, and whenever he made a mistake he was treated as if he were a traitor. Two years ago when the team had lost a championship game, Troy spent the next two weeks being shunned by the entire student body. Even the teachers had stopped talking to him. Now he was facing an identity crises on top of all of that.

His encounter with the male Evans had shaken him up. The brunette knew that Ryan liked him, hell, they had made out last week, but how was Troy to know if he could return the blonde's feelings? Troy didn't even think he liked boys besides Ryan, which made him even more confused. How could you like a single boy without liking the rest? Troy's thoughts were interrupted by a loud thump on the door.

"Troy, open the door. I need to talk to you." Jack Bolton's voice sounded pissed off.

Troy quickly obliged, not wanting to upset his dad even more. He opened the door, and let his dad in. The oldest Bolton moved over to his bed and sat down, and motioned for Troy to do the same. The brunette teen reluctantly sat down next to his father, his expression must have shown fear, because his dad shook his head.

"Troy, I'm not mad. Well, actually, yes I am. You shouldn't yell at us like that, no matter what happens." He paused giving his son a 'or else' look. "Tell me, without yelling, what is going on."

"Well, I'm not sure how to say this. I suppose I'm just losing my interest in the game," he confessed. "I've been doing basketball since I was old enough to play, and have been on a team as soon as middle school started. You always pushed me to be the best, and I guessed it worked because I'm captain. The thing is, I'm tired of being The East High Golden Boy. Remember when we lost the championship two years ago? No one would talk to me because I missed the shot that would have won us the game. I want to have a year where no one is following my every move, and I can try some new stuff. I was afraid of telling you because I know you've always wanted to me to be a big star." He looked at his dad, trying his best not to tear up.

"Troy," his dad sighed. "Maybe I have been to hard on you. And your right, I was so focused on making you a star, I kind of forgot to consider if you even wanted it. I just remember having a shot at your age and I messed it up. I guess I was trying to fix my mistakes through you."

Jack put his hand on his son's shoulder, giving him an encouraging squeeze.

"I just want you to know that if you do decide to quit the game, please really think about it. You have the potential, and I would hate for you to regret this later."

His father's voice sounded strained, like he was still struggling with the idea that his son might quit basketball. Troy knew his father was trying, and he was grateful for that, but he could also imagine how his dad would react when if he did get with his fair skinned crush. The images weren't encouraging.

"I know, and I will spend the summer thinking abut it." The brunette said with some reluctance, knowing that he would not join next year.

"Thanks son." With a final squeeze of his son's shoulder, Jack left the room.

Troy threw himself back on his bed, he was mentally exhausted. He thought more this week than he did all semester, and he was still coming up short. He was afraid to be with the male Evans, knowing everything could change for the worse if he did. Yet, his heart kept pulling him towards the boy, like some common thread pulling him.

***

The majority of the hallways in Lava Springs were empty, being that it was midnight and many were in their respective rooms by now. Ryan Evans was an exception to this, he was walking back towards his room after a very long mind clearing yoga session. He could have done his exercise in his room, but he had grown tired of those four walls in the past weeks. He had just about gotten to his room when he heard someone walking up behind him. He turned round to a the short person looking up at him.

"Hey Kelsi, you're her late." Ryan smiled at his friend.

"Yeah, well Sharpay wanted me to stay the night to help write some songs. She really wants to impress everyone at the winter musicale." Kelsi was nervous. "Which means more than half of my ideas will be criticized and mocked for the reminder of the night."

"You need to stand up to my sister. She's used to getting everything she wants, and the sooner you tell her differently the better. She's finally starting to realize that she can't claim Troy." He added with a smirk, knowing the hidden implications of his sentence.

"That's because she knows Troy is yours now, it's different." Kelsi replied with a devious smile.

"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" Ryan tried to play stupid.

"I've seen how you two have been looking at each other lately. It cute that your together." The short girl paused when she saw his face, "You guys are together right?"

"Nope, we are just friends Kelsi. We had a… situation a while ago. That led to some confusion and anger that we really don't want to be part of again." He stated, hoping she would believe it.

"Whatever, you guys are being stupid." She replied.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked. It was not normal for her to say things like that.

"I mean that you guys are only hurting yourselves. How long do you think it will be before one of you slips up and does something? When that happens, one of you will get all pissed off that they broke the promise, while enjoying the fact that they did it at the same time. What kind of friendship is that? Your just going to end up hating each other, while you crush in each other, if you continue like this." She inhaled deeply after saying all of that. "That is what I mean by stupid. You will risk losing each other because your too afraid of taking the next step."

"Wow Kelsi, that was harsh." Ryan stood there in awe of her newfound authority.

"Well, you said to stand up to Sharpay, I needed practice somehow and the male Evans twin seemed like a logical place to start." Kelsi gave him a smile. "And it needed to be said.

"Well, for your information, I do want to be with Troy." Ryan stopped for a moment. His next words harder to say. "He's the one who has to risk everything, and who even knows if it's worth it? He has a scholarship to U of A, and he won't be able to make it big if we're together."

"That's why you need to talk to him, see if its worth it. You may be in for a pleasant surprise." Kelsi gave him a brief hug. "Now I gotta go before Sharpay gets angry. I don't like her when she's angry."

"Bye." Ryan said before she walked off.

Ryan really needed some sleep, he was tired.

***

In Sharpay's 'Suite,' as the diva liked to call it, a very stressed out short girl was banging her head against the make up table she sat at. They had been at this for three hours, and all they could agree on was the fact that their futures in the entertainment world depended on this performance. Kelsi had stood up the the other girl, but she was still being met with resistance. Still, when you were working with Sharpay, it was a place to start.

Sharpay's room was quite a strain on the eyes, the majority of the room was a very violent pink, with a few white accents scattered about the room. Kelsi always a taste for androgynous clothing, and was pretty gender neutral when it came to most things. Being girlie was something Kelsi could never get into, and Sharpay constantly criticized her for it. The blonde always found new ways to tell her that she needed a make over, whether it be 'Oh Kelsi, you have got to wear this new top I bought! It would look fabulous on you!,' or 'Kelsi, you look awful, when are you gonna start trying to look good?' Yep, Kelsi sure had the short end of this stick.

"So, that about covers everything we're going to be doing, right?"Sharpay had asked for the whatever amount of times.

"I don't know Sharpay, we can't make you the only lead in the musical. There is Ryan to consider, and maybe even Troy and Gabriella. Everyone needs a fair chance this year, unlike last year. Or this summer." Kelsi shot the blonde a dark look.

"Whatever, just send me a list of things your are willing to compromise on tomorrow, and we'll bring Ryan in to finalize all decisions. He really has the knack for all this show-putting-together stuff." Sharpay waved her hand to show that she was done for the night, not liking Kelsi's sudden attitude change.

"Okay. Mind you the list will be rather short." She exasperated

"Good night Kelsi." Sharpay added.

"Good night Sharpay."

Kelsi called her mom, who agreed to, after a very stern talking to, pick up Kelsi from the club.

"I thought you were going to stay the night at Sharpay's room?" Her mom stated, though it was more of a question.

"Being in a room with her is very tiring. I don't plan on being around her too long anymore, or I'll lose it." Kelsi admitted.

"Well, whatever. As long as you don't do this again." Her mom told her.

***

Troy woke up at three in the morning, having another wet dream about his blonde crush. He groaned, knowing that he didn't have the will power to just go back to sleep. That was gross, so he went and took his shower. While in the confines of this steamy room, he considered calling Chad. The big haired teen was his best friend, and he always went to the guy if he had problems, so it seemed logical to go to Chad for this. Too bad it wasn't easy, Chad was the most difficult person to adjust to things like this. The winter musicale was just one of the may things that Chad liked to pressure him about. There was also the scholarship thing, and just about anything that interfered with basketball. Chad was one of the most stubborn people he knew, and was sure that if they had met later in life rather than early childhood, they would not be friends at all.

Still, this was something that Chad needed to know, because if he didn't tell him, it would jut lead to another argument. When he got to his room, the first thing he did was pull out his cell phone. He called the familiar number and waited, it took about six rings, but finally a groggy teen answered the phone.

"Hello…" Chad responded without much thought.

" Hey Chad, it's Troy." Troy's voice accidentally let out the frustration he was feeling, but it didn't matter, because the other teen was too tired to notice.

"Dude, what the hell? It's, like, three in the morning." Chad grumbled.

"I needed to talk to you man. I've been having some… problems." The brunette ended the sentence when he glanced at his defiled pajamas.

"Geez, couldn't it have waited until tomorrow?" Chad complained.

"No, because you would have made a scene in front of everyone, and this is something I do not want to announce to anyone… yet." Troy finished with some reluctance.

"Well man, what is it that you think The Chad-ster can't handle?" Chad smiled at his own nickname.

"Umm. I had a wet dream tonight." Troy began.

"That's it? You creamed your pants? I thought this ended before high school dude." Chad began to laugh quietly, so as to not wake up his parents.

"This is different, very different." He began, knowing it would be better to say it all now. "It's like this because of one person, whom we both know. I get this way almost every night thinking about… about him." The brunette paused, his voice unable to continue.

"Wait, so your, you know, all over yourself over a _guy_?" Chad's voice was dubious.

"Yeah, and I think I should also let you know that it's Ryan. We kind of like each other." Troy's voice cracked from the stress he felt.

"_Ryan?_ As in 'the sashaying Ryan Evans? I thought this would be about Gabriella or something, but dude… this is _way_ creepy." Chad's voice wasn't letting on any hostility- yet.

"Creepy? So, do you have a problem with it? Because if you do, then I guess I have to find a new best friend." Troy was beginning to feel defensive of his relationship with Ryan. Sure, they weren't together, but he hoped they would be soon, and that meant cutting out anyone who was deemed poisonous to their budding romance.

"Yes, I do have a _problem_ with it. You seem all too eager to change everything about yourself lately. Are you even gay? Or is this something that you feel you need to try, because nothing is ever _enough_." Chad's voice was but a whisper, but to Troy, it sounded like he was hissing at the brunette basketball captain.

"Chad, I don't know what I am anymore. I know I like Ryan, whether or not that makes me gay or bisexual doesn't really bother me. What _does_ bother me is that no matter what _I_ do, you seem compelled to mock and fight it. You claim to be my brother, but all you have ever tried to do is hold me back. So goodbye Chad, I'm quitting the team. You can find yourself another 'brother,' one who will put up with your sorry ass." Troy was about to hang up when he stopped. He had one more thing to say. "You know what Chad, I really am sorry about all of this. I thought I had a friend who was on my side. You were going to be the first person I actually told. Gabriella already knows, but she's smart and figured it out on her own. You were different, I wanted to tell you myself, because I owed you that. Apparently you were only in it for the glory. I hope things work out for you, because I won't be there to pick up the pieces when things go wrong." Troy hung up the phone.

By tomorrow, the whole team would know, and they would probably quit talking to him too. All he would be left with was the girls, which didn't bother him, because they were all cool with it. They loved Ryan, and everyone already knew he was gay, except Chad, it was kind of a given. Everyone just waited for him to tell them, because they knew it was something he needed to be able to do for himself. 'Oh well,' Troy thought to himself. 'At least I get to try some new stuff this year.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello everyone, unfortunately, this Chapter is shorter than the newer ones I have been posting. Without reviews, I kind of lose my interest in writing. I like writing here, because there are people who share the same interest in me, but without reviews I feel as if no one really cares if I post or not, which means I should be focusing my thoughts on some other projects I've been entertaining. It may seem vain to say this, but whatever, this is how I am. If you want me to continue, send reviews, otherwise I may just leave this one be. Sorry…

Send Reviews.


	9. The Almost That Wasn't

Yo, what is up people! I'm sorry it took sooooo long to put these chapters up (I'm posting two to make up for lost time- the next on will be up in two day at most, sorry I've been super busy), but the holidays kept me busy, then I got sick and had to work- bleh! Heres the new chapters, I'm sorry if they have errors, I don't have a beta, so it's just me trying to correct my mistakes.

BTW: does anyone know what the Title to a Tryan story is called that I'm looking for? I forget how it starts, but Troy and Ryan go out for pizza with the rest of the basketball team for a guys night out, then they go to a (straight) club because Ryan knows the owner. Then Troy and Ryan get drunk-ish, and Ryan teaches Troy to dance. The guys make it a weekly thing or something, and then one night Troy and Ryan finally kiss. Somebody please tell me! I can't seem to find it, and I really want to read it again!

Chapter 9

Ryan woke up the next morning rather late, it was probably noon. He wondered why his alarm hadn't gone off on his cell phone, and checked it. He had forgotten to charge his phone last night, and now it was dead. He put it on the charger and went to go take a shower. His marble bathroom had been cleaned a few nights ago, and a few of his toiletries had gone mysteriously missing. It unnerved the male twin, the items that had gone missing were some of his designer colognes, some various hair care products and a collection of his expensive skin creams and moisturizers. It wasn't anything extremely valuable, but it was still a loss for the twin. He had told his parents, and now there was an investigation on the missing items. He was suspicious the new cleaning person that had been hired. He had a very manicured look that must use quite a bit of care products, which he might have stolen.

Not many guys had the stuff that Ryan did, but the blond liked to take care of himself. He had very fair skin, and it could be damaged easily by the sun's damaging rays. The creams may not have been sun block- they were mainly anti-aging creams. He figured all of the cell repairing ingredients would be good for sun damage- he hated the greasy feel of sunblock.

The dancer unceremoniously pulled off his clothes and turned in the water, putting it as hot as he could take it. The hot water helped relax him from his thoughts of his crush. He knew that he would have to tell Troy that he liked him. He just hoped that the basketball star would return his feelings. After his shower he dried himself off and got dressed. He had used up the last of his hair products yesterday and now he would have to leave himself unkempt. He took a last look at he mirror and tried his best to style his hair, but to no avail.

***

For the blond, eating in the dining room was boring. It was too quiet and only the adults ate there. Ryan preferred to eat in the kitchen, with al of his new friends. Sure, he wasn't supposed to be in the kitchens with the staff, but when your parents own the country club, you can get away with almost anything. The blonde strode into the kitchens, relishing the savory aromas that wafted to his nose, he hadn't noticed the stares coming his way. As he walked over to Zeke, hoping some of the bread he was baking was sourdough (which was his favorite), Chad stepped in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" The fluffy headed teen took a step forward, doing one of those stupid 'machismo' things you see so often.

"Geez Chad, I was just going to get some bread. I was hoping to make a sandwich, but it doesn't seem like thats going to be happening soon now is it?" Ryan's voice was cool, but underneath his calm exterior was fear. Why was Chads so angry?

"The last time I checked, all patrons were supposed to be in the dining hall. Your kind doesn't belong in here." Chad replied, venom lacing every word.

"Chad! What is going on?!" Taylor, who had just come in from the Fulton's office, demanded.

"Yeah Chad, what the _hell_ is your problem? I haven't even been in here for a few days. What could have I possibly done wrong when I'm not even here?" Ryan knew that when Chad had said 'your kind,' that he wasn't referring to the wealthy. "And what do you mean 'your kind'?"

"You should know, hell, everyone knows now that I've told them!" Chad's voice was getting louder, bringing the attention of everyone in the room.

"You… you told them?" Ryan felt sick, knowing that the only person who would have told Chad this was Troy.

"Well not exactly." Chad's eyes were gleaming, and his mouth was put into a smirk. "I haven't told them _yet._"

"_No!_" Ryan's face drained of all color, he felt everyone's eyes on him.

"I haven't told them about," Chad's voice was yelling at this point, "how your a faggot, and how you've managed to turn Troy into one too!"

It's funny how quiet a room can get so fast. After Chad's outburst, the entire room was silent for a moment. The blonde's breath was shallow and irregular, his heart pounding from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He knew it was his fight or flight response, and he had the decision to make. As far as he knew, the rest of the basketball team was ready for some serious bashing. Ryan back away from Chad, and ran out of the kitchen, his meal forgotten.

***

Taylor was first to speak.

"What was _that_?" Her voice was shrill. "What gives you the right to out somebody, and make their life hell!"

"The fact that he has Troy wrapped around his finger. Troy called me last night and told me he was quitting the team."

"What?" Despite Taylor's anger, she was surprised to hear that the Golden Boy was giving up his claim to fame.

"Yeah, he's quitting. He'd rather be a drama queer than friends with us anymore. And-" The angry youth was cut short.

" Chad Danforth!" Taylor shrieked again," You will not talk like that about Troy! I wouldn't care if he did quit the team, that was never the reason he was my friend! He's a caring compassionate person, and whether or not he's gay doesn't matter to me! What does bother me is that you would throw that all away because of it. Was fame the only reason you guys were friends?"

"We've been brothers since we were kids! You don't know what you're talking about!" Chad snarled.

"Oh, so because you've been friends longer means that your entitled to torture him because he's different? And I do know what I'm talking about, because I could tell that Troy and Ryan were falling for each other before you. If you'd open your eyes, you could have seen from the beginning that they were becoming more than friends." Taylor turned around and looked at the rest of the Wildcats in the kitchen. "Who else knew about this, and supported it, before Chad went and ruined everything?"

The Wildcats soon began to slowly raise their hands. Gabriella was first, bringing up her small hand, then it was Kelsi and Zeke. After them a handful of people had raised their hands, which miraculously included Jason. Taylor gave the raven haired teen a disbelieving look, but soon smiled. She knew she had enough evidence to prove her point.

"You see Chad, everyone else could see but you- and they supported it." Taylor's voice softened. "Why can't you?"

"Because I don't support queers! If that's how your all going to be, fine. I'm outta here." Chad picked up his gear out of his locker, and left the room.

Taylor tried to stop him, after all, he was still on the clock. What if Fulton found out?. She turned to the rest of the staff and told them to go back to work, which they did. She then went back to Fulton's office to give the rest of the schedule she had completed. She stepped in, and put the papers on his desk.

"Did you put the copy up in the kitchens?" Mr. Fulton asked her.

"Yes sir, I also reorganized the schedule so that it is displayed by last name- not by work times. It should be a lot easier for the rest of the staff to find their hours now." Taylor said with a bit of pride, she knew that Fulton valued her far more than he ever let on, because without her organizational skills, he would be lost.

"Thank you Miss McKessie, and did you ask Mr. Danforth to come in here on his break like I had asked?" Fulton peered at her over his glasses.

"I'm sorry sir, but Chad has left the grounds. He got into a verbal argument with one of the patrons, Ryan Evans, and then he left. I saw him leave on my way here." Taylor couldn't help but smile, knowing that Chad was going to get his just desserts. After all, he went and miffed one of the few people no one should mess with: an Evans.

***

When people find something out you'd rather them not know, it's usually embarrassing for the secret keeper, Ryan Evans was no exception. His face was burning up into what was probably the reddest face anyone has ever seen. His heart was still pounding from the adrenaline, and all he wanted to do was throw up. The blonde did retch a few times in the flower beds, but without anything in his stomach, he was hard pressed to actually come up with anything. The dancer straightened himself up and continued to the path to his room. The stares he got from the other patrons made him uneasy, so he broke out into a run. Ryan was running along the path to his room, eager to hide his face until the world ended when he ran into the last person he wanted to see. The taller teen was dressed in his uniform, but with a package underneath his arm, it was wrapped in simple brown paper.

"Ryan, there you are! I was just talking to your sister, listen, I've gotta tell you something important-"

"No, _you_ listen," Ryan interrupted. "I just walked into the kitchens to have a sandwich, and guess what? Chad was there, and he just outed me to the entire East High student body!! Now, how in the world would he get this information?" Ryan eyes were squinted in anger. "I'll tell you, the one person I thought I could trust went and spilled my secrets to the school! You know what, I don't even want to hear your excuses!" The blonde shoved Troy aside, then ran past him.

He stopped abruptly and turned around.

" You know what Troy, I really liked you, and I was going to tell you so today, but I don't think I could handle you hurting me again." His eyes were tearing up, and a few stray droplets made their way down his pink tinged cheeks. He then turned back around and continued to run from the brunette youth.

Ryan didn't stop running until he got to his room. He burst through the door and went straight for his bed. Then he threw himself on the bed and let his emotions spill out. He was crying hard, and for so many different reasons. He knew that East High was a relatively accepting school, but there were also those few peers that would do their best to make his life a living hell, and as safe as the school was, the school would most likely do nothing to protect him from all of the harassment he would soon endure.

Then there was his parents: he hadn't told them he was gay yet, and he wanted to do that on his own terms. He didn't want them to figure this out under these conditions, it would only hurt his parents that much more. He knew that if he wanted things to stay on his terms, then he would have to tell them soon- really soon, and he wasn't sure I he was ready to do that yet. The blonde fell into an uneasy sleep thinking about things he would have to endure now.

***

Troy stood in the middle of the sidewalk. He was speechless: today was supposed to be the day that his whole life changed for the better. He was finally going to asked Ryan to be with him, and then kiss him with all of the passion that he had for the boy. It was all that Troy could think about this morning, he even got kicked out of the dining hall to pick weeds because he was unfocused. The heat did nothing to deter him from the encounter he was so looking forward to. He had even picked up a half dozen roses from the florist this morning, and had them wrapped up to endure the harsh New Mexico sun. Now all of his plans were gone, and he lost his chance to be with the blonde.

Troy wasn't one to cry in public, but he simply didn't care anymore. He dropped the box of roses he was holding and let out a cry that seemed to resonate with all of the pain he felt. He had changed everything about himself to be with the blond, and now he had nothing. It was all because of himself, if he hadn't told Chad anything, he would have been with the blond right now, but instead he went and blabbed anyways.

The brunette received many stares form those who walked by him on the sidewalk, and he couldn't blame them. There was a lonely boy on the ground crying his eyes out, who wouldn't stare?

He continued to cry until dehydration took it's toll on him. He was getting dizzy and light headed, very much like last week when he passed out. This time Troy was counting on it. He needed a way to escape his pain. Moments went by as he cried until he passed out. After twenty minutes, he was picked up and moved into some shade by a pair of strong arms he couldn't see. They put a wet cloth on his head and woke him up. Who Troy found it to be took him by surprise- it was Chad.


	10. Revealing Revelations

Hello again! As promised, here's the next Chapter! I'm sorry it took so long to put these up- I made a promise to myself to put up a chapter every week- but I was busy (yes, I know that excuse is getting old by now). Here's the much anticipated (debatable) chapter!!

**BTW: does anyone know what the Title to a Tryan story is called that I'm looking for? I forget how it starts, but Troy and Ryan go out for pizza with the rest of the basketball team for a guys night out, then they go to a (straight) club because Ryan knows the owner. Then Troy and Ryan get drunk-ish, and Ryan teaches Troy to dance. The guys make it a weekly thing or something, and then one night Troy and Ryan finally kiss. Somebody please tell me! I can't seem to find it, and I really want to read it again!**

**I really want to know!!**

Chapter 10

"Chad?" Troy said weakly.

"Hey man, you were out for awhile." The curly headed teen gave Troy a glass of cool water. "Here, drink this, you're pretty dehydrated right now."

"Why are you doing this?" Troy asked, his voice slightly hardened. "I mean, you disowned me last night, and outed both me and Ryan today. Why start being nice now?"

"Well, after I chased Ryan out of the kitchens, Taylor said some stuff that put things into perspective. It took me a while to take it in. Listen, I know I made an ass of myself,-"

"A complete ass." Troy agreed.

"- but I'm willing to do what I can to make it up to you." Chad finished.

The ex-basketball captain sighed, he knew that this was the direction he was heading. As much as he wanted to jump up and he forgive him, he knew Ryan was still hurting from what had happened. Everyone may have known that the blonde youth was already gay, but Chad had stripped him of the right to tell people.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't say I forgive you. You did a stupid thing, and it hurt people." Troy said sadly. "Especially Ryan, you guys were getting so close before all of this happened, and then you suddenly turn on him. You know he hasn't had many friends in his life. This summer was his coming out of sorts, he was finally more than Sharpay's twin. He had his identity and new friends, and although he may still have most of those friends, he'll always remember this and there will always be that doubt that someone else will betray him like you did. Not to mention you took his right to come out at his own time, and mine as well." Troy sat himself upright.

"I know, I really screwed up this time, and I just want to do what is right to make things better again. I overreacted when you told me you like Ryan, I thought I was going to lose you as a friend for sure, and I wanted to beat you to it so I wouldn't get hurt." Chad turned away from the brunette, possibly to wipe his teary eyes.

"I'm not sure if Ryan will forgive you, but you can try nonetheless." Troy put a hand on the others shoulder. "Start by being there for him, but don't try to force yourself back into his life. If he's getting bullied, I want you to stand up for him, let him know your willing to stand up for others, and he may warm up to you again." Troy stood up. "That's all I want to say to you for now. You really need to make things up to Ryan before we can become friends again."

Troy walked away, his legs a little shaky from the dehydration. He still weak, but he had strength enough to walk back to the kitchens.

Chad called out to him.

"Troy!" Chad ran up to him, brown box in hand. "You forgot your package-"

Chad tripped, and fell to the ground. The brown paper tore, and the contents spilled out of the box. "Woah. Were these for Ryan?"

"Yes." The brunette said with some sadness. "I was going to give them to him today, and ask to be his boyfriend, but after he found out I told you about him, he wanted nothing to do with me."

Chad didn't say anything further, he knew it was his fault. He simply handed the box back to the teen, and gave a nod. The curly headed teen walked to the kitchens, but stopped to let Troy ahead of him. Partly because he felt it was polite, and partly because he was afraid of seeing the others again.

***

Chad entered the kitchens with apprehension, he knew that the others wouldn't be so accepting of his excuses. Taylor was right, his friend Troy was one of the most caring and compassionate people you could meet. The ex-captain may have not forgiven him yet, but he did hear him out and say what he could do to help.

Chad didn't really not like gay people, but when Troy said he wanted to be with Ryan, he thought he was going to lose him for sure. When he started the winter musicale, the practices and performances kept him from hanging out with the guys a lot. Chad would never admit it, but without the captain, he was lost. He had no other best friend, sure there were the other guys on the team, but they kind of paired up already. Everyone had their own best friend, and as welcome as he was to hang out with everyone else, he always felt like an outsider. So when Troy broke the news to him, he kind of flipped out. He knew that it would take more time away from hanging out with the guys, and in the end they would probably quit hanging out altogether. It was the last one that made Chad want to end it on his terms, he couldn't face losing his best friend and being hurt by it.

The curly headed one walked through the doors. Everyone was around Troy, fussing over him, and reassuring him that they didn't mind him being gay. Then they turned to look at him, it wasn't pretty. Gabriella was the first to step up, she walked over to the lone teen and stopped a few inches from his face. The raven haired girl then slapped him across the face with such a force, he was sure to have a bruise by the end of the night. The others soon turned too, many of them were throwing insults at him, calling him and intolerant bastard and other such things. Troy stopped them all.

"Everyone just stop!" Troy yelled, quickly quieting the room. "Let me just start by saying I have a headache and you guys yelling isn't helping at all. Yes, Chad made a mistake, but he's already apologized to me and explained himself. He's still got to make it up to Ryan, but he's willing to do that too. Just give him a break, he made a mistake, and he realized it. Now if you'll all excuse me, I've got to try and get Ryan to talk to me again." Troy left the room quickly, once again focusing attention on the other boy.

"Troy wouldn't have to try and get Ryan to talk to him if it wasn't for you," Gabriella said, a few steps in front of everyone else. "He may be a forgiving pushover, but the rest of us aren't. You'd better be _very_ careful about what you say from now on." Gabriella then pulled back her hair into a ponytail and went back to her lifeguard shift.

Several nodded in agreement as they too went back to work. Chad exhaled, grateful Troy stopped their yelling. Taylor went over to the teen, and put her hand on her hips. He was expecting another slap on the face, but she just kept on staring at him. Finally she told him that Fulton wanted to see him, and that she had already told him what had happened, so to expect to get into trouble. He bit his lip, knowing he couldn't blame anyone but himself. It was a selfish thought, but he had hoped once he apologized, everyone would open him back with open arms.

***

Troy was once again outside the door of the blonde boy he was so infatuated with. It was as if everything that had happened last week was repeating itself, and no matter how they fought against it, it continued as such. Was it a sign? Were things supposed to be different the last time around? Of course, that was why he was here, standing in the hall. The basketball star wasn't much of a believer of fate, but this was enough to raise some questions about the existence of it. The brunette was about to knock on the door, when the sound of a throat clearing distracted him. It was Sharpay, decked out in what was possibly her best clothing.

"Excuse me Troy, but I have to go see my brother." The twin said with a drawling voice. "We're going to the mall to get some much needed peace and quiet. This place used to be _our_ place of rest and relaxation, but with all of the other Wildcats around, it's just a much more laid back version of high school." She flipped her hair and pushed past him. Walking through the threshold, she gave a side glance at him- probably because it looked very dramatic. "And yes, I do know what happened, and _I am very pissed off right now._"

The door closed with a slam. Troy stood there, still not sure what he should do. Normally, Troy got whatever he wanted. Being popular gave him that luxury, but with Ryan, he had to work on everything. He had to come to terms with his sexuality- which he still hadn't come to terms with- and he also gave up on basketball. That wasn't Ryan's fault, but it was tied to him.

Ryan was part of the drama club, dropping basketball to be in drama brought him closer to the blonde. Sharpay had already shown him what the future could bring when you were with an Evans, now he would find out the difference when the Evans in question was male. That wasn't to say he was using the wealthy blond, but comforting himself in the fact that if anything should ever happen to his own career, Ryan would be able to support himself. Troy spent countless hours at night wondering: if he made it big in basketball, how long would it last? Would it be enough to live on? What about after that? Was it just the next step to a boring office job, reliving the glory days when he used to have it all? Troy wouldn't be able to say he lived a full life if all he had ever done with his life was shoot hoops. His senior year was his proving ground, where he had to prove he was more than a jump shot and slam dunk.

The brunette quickly pushed his thoughts aside when he heard the door knob turn, signaling that the twins were going to leave the room. Troy's heart skipped a beat when he saw Ryan. He was wearing the same silk shirt he wore at the mall that one day. His pants were a simple solid black, but they were very fitted, and showed off the fairer twins more… appealing assets. Troy couldn't help but gawk, despite the gravity of the situation. It was only when they were halfway down the hall when Troy had found his voice again.

"Ryan!" Troy jogged over to the twins, desperate to make his pleas heard. "I'm sorry about Chad! I just wanted to tell him about us, or what was going to be us, so there would be nothing holding me back from making our relationship public!" He tried to grab Ryan's hand.

Sharpay was quick, she quickened her pace and grabbed her brother's hand and pulled him out of reach. She knew Troy wouldn't ever try to hurt her brother, but her instincts as an older sister kicked in. Nope, she wasn't going to let someone who hurt her brother close them him again- not yet anyways. "

"Troy, I think you've done enough damage for one day. Please just go away, if not for me, then for Ryan." The blonde diva quickened her pace more, slowly pulling her brother away from the brunette.

"Please Ryan, I…" Troy's voice gave out for a second. " I'm putting everything on the line just to be with you. I'm even quitting basketball. Please don't write me off yet."

Ryan finally turned his head, showing his eyes were teary. He gave a longing look towards the other boy, and was on the verge of saying something, but Sharpay gave a tug on his arm, and the words were lost as he walked away from his admirer.

***

Ryan's heart was lighter than before. He was still very sad from the days events, but Troy had finally confessed his feelings for him. The blonde's doubts were still there, though. Troy said he was quitting basketball, which wasn't as relieving as he thought it would be. Sure, he was worried that their relationship- if it ever happened- would ruin chances for Troy's professional basketball career. But quitting? What if one day he decides he wants to be a ball player again? Would Troy blame him for it, saying that he had changed himself for the twin, and then find out he didn't really like him like he thought he did. The blonde teen didn't want to be held responsible for that. Sharpay must have felt his discomfort, because she called him out on it.

"Still thinking about what Troy said?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied. "He said he was going to quit basketball. Who does that? It was his claim to fame, the reason why he's _the_ Troy Bolton- East High's Golden Boy. What if one day he decides he wants it back, and blames me?" Ryan knew Sharpay would be able to put his thoughts at rest. The question was whether or not this was good.

"He's a big boy Ryan. If he wants to quit, then let him. He doesn't have to quit to be with you, he knows that. Have you ever considered that maybe he was getting tired of it all? I mean, he tried out for Twinkle Town in in the winter- and got the part, that wasn't a spur of the moment thing. It takes a lot of commitment to take the lead from an Evans," Sharpay smiled at her brother. "He must have really wanted it."

"What about Gabriella?" Ryan asked.

"That was a fluke, one that will not be happening again." The blond girl said that through gritted teeth. "By the way, Troy or no Troy, we are going to be practicing for the winter musicale very early this year. Kelsi will be going over the play's plot with us when she finishes the revisions I have made for her.

Ryan smiled, his sister was a great performer. She knew when it was time to switch roles from diva to concerned sister. She also knew when she could switch back again, which as usually very soon. She was one to say what needed to be said, and be done with it.

"So," Ryan began, "what are we going to be doing at the mall today?" Ryan asked. He did _not _want to be tricked into shopping for dresses again like so many times before.

"What else?" Sharpay grinned, unaware of the flinching Ryan was doing at the time. "We're beginning our Back to School shopping! It's never too early to start!"

Ryan smiled, knowing he would at least be carrying bags that were his own.


	11. Tying Up Loose Ends

Chad was standing in the doorway of Fulton's office, as he had been for the past three minutes. The curly headed teen gulped loudly. Usually Fulton was ready to lash out at anyone without thinking, today the man was as silent as could be, and having to stand there was excruciating. He tried to start up a conversation, hell, he even apologized for acting the way he had toward Ryan, but the older man gave no indication that he was even listening. Chad was just about to excuse himself when the older man spoke.

"Chad, do you realize what you've done?" Mr. Fulton said in a surprisingly calm tone.

"Yeah, and I'm really sorry-"

"Please don't interrupt." Mr. Fulton snapped. "I have served the Evans family since they built this country club, and I was there when Mrs. Evans gave birth to the twins. I spent many summers caring for them and watching over them like they were my own." He paused to give a look at Chad, which meant he was in _deep_. "I may not have a family, but those two are like family to me. I took notice of Ryan's orientation long ago, and promised myself as long as he was in my care, I would never let anything happen to him. Sadly I have failed to keep that promise, but I can at least bring justice to the young man. Which means that _you,_ Mr. Danforth, have to deal with me."

Mr. Fulton then pulled out a small sheet of paper form his desk. The letters at the top of the sheet were big enough for the teen to read. It NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT. Chad gulped loudly, yep, this wasn't going to be good.

"Name of Employee: Chad Danforth. Reason for Termination: Unacceptable Behavior Towards Patrons. Date Effective: Immediately."

"Wait! Mr. Fulton, please!" Chad pleaded. " Give me a chance to make it up to him! It was never about Ryan, I was just afraid of losing my best friend Troy! I really want to make things right again."

Mr. Fulton sighed, "Against my better judgement, I must ask you: Exactly how can you make things right again?"

"I-I can protect Ryan. Unlike you, I can get a lot closer to him, and if anyone tries to hurt him, I can be there, ready to do whatever it takes to keep him safe." Chad tried his best to sound sure of himself. "And because I'm underage, I can't get into trouble for it- well almost, but I'll be in less trouble than you.

The older man sat and considered things. It was true that Chad would be able to keep a closer eye on the blonde teen, but would he really keep his word, or was he just trying to save his job?

"Would you really do your best to keep him safe?" Fulton asked, still unsure of the younger teen.

"Yes, sir. I need to prove myself to him more than I need this job. A car can wait, but how I feel about myself and how I treated him is everything." Chad said in all honesty.

"I see, well if you keep your word, I'll terminate your termination. But your on probation, if you screw up one more time, your fired. Now make it happen." Fulton then waved his hand, signaling the teen to leave the room. Chad did so promptly.

***

Sharpay was in the dressing room, trying on a pair of designer jeans. It was probably the third pair she had tried in the store, and she had yet to find a pair that 'elongated her freakishly short legs,' as she put it. She left the dressing room with a pout, hoping for some sort of acknowledgment from her brother. There wasn't any, so she went over to him.

Ryan was sitting on the stool, playing with his phone. The girl didn't know what he was doing, but he definitely wasn't texting: his fingers weren't even moving that fast. She peered over his shoulder, and took a peek at his screen. It was picture of Troy sitting with his friends, smiling at one of them. Sharpay looked at her brother's face, and the sight melted her heart: he was just staring at the screen and smiling. A closer look showed his eyes were glistening with tears.

"You really like him don't you." Sharpay said, putting a gentle hand around him.

"Yeah. I'm afraid I might have screwed things up, though, I told him to leave me alone." Ryan gave a soft laugh, one more sad than happy. "Why does it seem like the two of us can't just say how we feel?"

"Because, silly. Boys are dumb: they can't even see something that's right in their face." She gave a soft shove. "Seriously, how did the two of you manage to even get through school?"

"I don't know, I can't even remember what classes I've had right now. How I make it through each year amazes me." Ryan said, smiling at his sister.

"Good, your smiling, now we can start shopping again. Come on, I think that department store at the end of the mall got some new merchandise. I'm sure they have some hats too." The girl coaxed.

"Okay, we'll go. You got me at hats." Ryan sighed.

Sharpay smiled to herself. She could get him to go with her anytime she wanted if she mentioned the hats. Seriously, why did her brother like them so much? On the subject of what Ryan likes, she would have to confront Troy soon. This needed to end soon, because the girl had no idea how many more times she could handle consoling her brother. The stores were running out of new hats fast.

"Good, when your done picking out a few, you can come over to help me with some dresses."

Ryan shuddered.

***

Troy was pulling weeds for the second time that day, well kind of. He was merely shuffling around the course, trying to look like he cared. Underneath the lethargic exterior was a turbulent storm of emotions. The brunette couldn't stop replaying the whole day in his head: there was the anticipation, the letdown, the drama, and then the confession- all before five too. Stupid teenage drama.

Troy had been kicking at the grass for about two hours, which was probably counted as a strike against him, when he heard a voice behind him. It was a familiar blonde girl with a shiny tiara on her head driving in a pink golf cart. 'Oh no,' he thought to himself 'not _her._'

"Hey Troy." Sharpay said, twirling her fingers in her golden hair.

"What do you want Sharpay? I thought you were at the mall for much needed R and R." Troy said in a flat voice.

"Well, we did that already. Now I want to talk to you Troy. Come, sit with me in the cart." She gestured toward the pink monstrosity, "Remember our talk earlier today? You told me that you really liked Ryan, and that you felt that you should tell me first, seeing as I was his keeper of sorts."

"I didn't say it like that, I meant-"

"I know what you meant. I also thought it was really sweet of you to come to me, probably to let me know that you were his and not mine, but still, it was sweet." The blonde absentmindedly played with her tiara. "When Chad outed my brother- because of what you told him- I was furious. I was more mad at myself for not protecting him like I should have, but how could I have seen it coming? I didn't know that you had told Chad anything, otherwise I would have threatened Chad before he even came to work today."

"Sharpay," the brunette started, "what exactly are you trying to tell me, because I have to clock out in about ten minutes. Your explanation is getting kind of long."

"Well I could just tell Fulton to let you off the hook, but whatever. What I've been leading up to is that I want you to be with Ryan. You know what he did while we were shopping? He kept looking at the photos of you in his phone."

"He has photos of me in his phone?! When did he get those?" Troy asked, not remembering being photographed.

"He took them over the summer, there are a few, most of them is just you smiling with your friends of something. Anyways, that isn't the point, the point is that the both of you have been doing this on/ off thing for the past week, and I think it's time for you to step up to the plate and just kiss the boy."

"It's not that simple Sharpay. I don't want to get into something I'm not even sure of. I mean, what if I end up hurting him or something? I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for that." Troy said with some difficulty.

"That's _exactly_ why Troy. Your mind might doubt how you feel, but your heart is ready. You say it might not work out, but you also say you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself if you broke his heart. Trust me, if there was any indication if you like my brother, that was a for sure one." Sharpay then gave one of her rare, true, smiles. "Don't worry, we're all just a bunch of kids, things will happen, and we'll learn from them. Now come on, let's get you to the kitchens."

"Okay, thanks Sharpay." Troy said.

"No problem, by the way, why were you kicking at the grass?" The jewel encrusted teen asked.

"I was wasting time." The brunette confessed.

"Oh."

"Sharpay?"

"Yes Troy?"

"Why do you have so many wardrobe changes?"

"Because, silly, I'm an Evans. I can do whatever I want."

***

Ryan was at the park, sitting on one of the swings. He remembered playing here with his sister when they were kids. The girl would dominate they playground, designating which areas were hers, and that no one except me and her could be there. It was funny to think that she hadn't really grown up at all. In fact, Sharpay was probably less experienced when it came to romance than himself.

Sharpay had never even kissed anyone before. She chased Troy, and shoved away Zeke, refusing to settle for anyone else. Now that the teen in question was no longer available, what would she do? On the school hierarchy of potential new men, Zeke was next in line. Well, maybe, there was the football captain, but football was never really celebrated in East High. It was like basketball was for most schools, so who she chose would be anyones guess. The only thing that could be sure of is that he would compliment her, both verbally and visually in comparison.

Ryan stood up and stretched. It was getting late, he thought to himself, he'd better go back to the club so he could go to sleep. He had just passed the sandbox when he heard a noise. It was like a twig had snapped behind him, he quickly spun around, but there was no one there. Unsettled, he walked towards the direction of his car, wishing to get in it before anyone could catch up to him. He wishes fell on deaf ears: he was pulled back by his collar, and thrown to the ground.

"Hey guys, look at this kid. His clothes are so gay." The mystery man said in a cackling voice, "They _do _look expensive, though, maybe he has some money. If he doesn't I'm sure we can get our money's worth, he looks like he could go a few rounds before we throw him out."

Ryan's body turned to ice. He was about to be raped, and probably many time by the amount of men that were around him. He tried his best to keep from crying, knowing that losing his cool wouldn't help anything. He thought of a possible way to escape, but there wasn't any: the men surrounding him were on all sides. The leader grabbed him by the hair and pulled him to his feet. To say it hurt was an understatement, because he was thrown head first into a van. It was the kind with blacked out windows, so you couldn't see the interior. Ryan yelled, knowing if he didn't now, then no one would hear him. He was quickly silenced with a rough shove

The leader told his followers to stand guard. He kept the van door cracked just an inch, much to Ryan relief. At least he wasn't going to be carried off to some unknown place. The man them began to unbutton the blonde teen's silk shirt. Ryan whimpered and tried to squirm away, but the man held him down. He said if he just kept quiet, it would be over in a few hours, and they would let him go. Ryan quietly cried as he quit resisting. He hoped with every ounce of strength that the man was telling the truth. The older man then began to take off the youth's shirt. The man gasped as the shirt slid off, the exposed creamy white skin gleaming in the meager light. He then tugged at Ryan's pants, only meeting minimal resistance from the teen. His breath hitched at the sight of the now-near-nude boy. He was absolutely gorgeous.

"All mine." The man whispered wickedly.

"Not quite." Responded a very familiar voice.

"Chad!" Ryan exclaimed.

"You!" The curly headed teen gestured to the lecherous stranger. "Off of him. Now! I've already called the police and have taken pictures of your car, your supposed friends- who ran off by the way- and now I have a picture of your face." Chad finished with the click of his camera phone.

"Shit!" The man shoved Ryan into Chad's arms and got into the driver's seat. He drove off, speeding like a maniac.

Chad then focused his attention to the blonde boy. He wrapped an arm around the teen.

"You okay?"

"No."

Ryan then screwed his face up and cried. He buried his face into Chad's and cried and cried. Chad stood there, holding the blonde boy in his arms. He was shaking, he couldn't believe what had just happened. He was walking home from a solo basketball practice in the park when he heard a scream. He saw the van with the blacked out windows, and put two and two together. He took a moment to assess the situation and came up with a plan. He could use his phone's camera to take a few pictures of the car and a few of the people around the car. He figured if that didn't scare the men off, then he could at least provide information to the police. He carried out his plan with miraculous flawlessness, and was stunned to see a terrified Ryan in the back of the van: his clothes pulled off and a man hovering over him. Now he was holding the near naked teen in his arms. It was a strange feeling.

"Here." Chad had picked up Ryan's shirt and pants. "Your clothes."

Ryan silently grabbed them and stood up. The blonde got the shirt on with much difficulty, and then fell over trying to put his pants on. Chad put his arm around Ryan's waist, steadying the blonde so he could dress himself.

"Th-thank you." Ryan said weakly.

"No problem Ryan." Chad said. "I'm glad that I got there in time."

"Me too, I-I was almost… He almost."

Ryan began crying again, and fell into Chad's arms. Chad's heart gave a twitch, it was something he had never felt before. He wasn't sure what it was, but he kept it to himself. Right now Ryan needed him. The police sirens soon alerted the two that they were not alone anymore. They didn't break apart, but Ryan did make sure he was fully dressed before they came.

The police questioned the two for almost an hour. Chad, sacrificed his phone as evidence to help the police find the men responsible. Ryan had to explain, in a very detailed manner, what had happened. He broke down a few times, and Chad had to comfort him before he could speak again. When it was all over, the police woman said something very interesting.

"Your a very good boyfriend. I hope you know that."

Chad sat there dumbstruck, he hadn't been expecting _that_. Ryan laughed so hard his eyes were tearing. Chad blushed, not certain why he did so, but he knew it was for reasons beyond his understanding.

"Ryan." Chad started.

"Yes, Chad?"

"I want to apologize. What I said today was horrible. I never meant the things that I said, I was just mad that I was losing Troy to you. He's my best friend, and without him, I'm lost. I couldn't deal with that, so I lashed out. I'm sorry that you took the brunt of my anger." Chad said with all sincerity in his voice.

"After tonight, I think you've been forgiven. Thank you." Ryan gave the boy a quick kiss on the cheek, and Chad's face warmed up. "I gotta, go, my parents are waiting for me by the police car. I'll see you tomorrow, bye Chad."

Ryan slipped away and left a very confused Chad sitting there. His face was all warm and he was certain he was blushing. What did this all mean? The curly headed teen sighed in frustration as he headed towards his respective parents. This was going to be a long night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Woot! Another chappie done! Oh no! Ryan was almost raped! Luckily he wasn't, otherwise Troy and Ryan may never get together. There's only one or two more chapters left in this story! It's sad, because this is the first story I've ever written. It's kind of sad to let it go. As some of you may have noticed, I'm giving the end of this chapter a very interesting twist. I know it's short notice to add this in now, but I feel it gives room for a sequel, which I'm sure I will be doing. It all depend on whether or not people want me to. If you do, it will have to wait I have a lot of ideas for some new stories that I want to try out. I think they are very unique, because I haven't seen anything like it in the Tryan fandom. It's funny how random inspiration can be. A single word or line can create an entire story in my head. Anyways, enough rambling. **I hope you all send reviews**. Have a great week!


	12. OMFG! Finally!

Troy Bolton was pacing in his room, feeling very anxious about the confrontation he would have to do tomorrow. Most would feel that the evenings would be a great time to relax and do whatever it was that you wanted, Troy was a different story. Troy had no idea how he would go about confronting the blonde.

His first idea went up in flames, and he knew that there was no way he was going to try that again- so now what? He wasn't a very romantic person, and he just blew his best idea he had. The brunette mumbled a few curses under his breath while he thought. Why didn't he ever read one of those romance novels that Gabriella always had her nose in? Heck, when he met her for the first time, she was carrying around those books.

Finally he threw his hands up in resignation and collapsed on his bed. Tomorrow was just going to be 'one of those days.' Troy heard a knock at the door, and looked up. His mom had her head in the doorway.

"Troy honey, are you okay? I could hear you pacing downstairs." Mrs. Bolton asked, her voice full of parental concern.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I've just been thinking about stuff again." Troy replied in the best 'I'm okay' voice he had.

"Well alright, but do tell me if anythings wrong okay? I really want you to be able to come to me for anything." She blew him a kiss. "Goodnight Troy."

" Night mom." The older woman had almost closed the door before Troy stopped her. "Hey mom?"

"Yes?"

"You would still love me if I did something different, right?" Troy asked with some hesitation.

"Of course, I know you like to act in Drama, so don't even worry about it. Goodnight Hon." Mrs. Bolton closed the door.

The basketball captain, at least until he formally resigned, sighed. His mom was blind to the subtleties of that statement, and he knew that she wouldn't be as calm when he told her what he really meant.

He buried his face in the pillow, falling into an unfit sleep.

***

A certain teenager was laying on a plush leather couch, pretending to be fully immersed in some teenage soap opera. In reality he could care less if some thin model slash actress was in some constant on and off relationship with some stud. He was thinking about what had happened today.

Chad had managed to completely ruin two people's life, rescue one of them from dehydration and get their forgiveness, and rescue the other form a rape and get his forgiveness. In less than twenty four hours no less. Why couldn't he have typical high school drama?

Then there was that incident with Ryan too. Chad wasn't an expert in romance, in fact, if he was tested on it, he would probably be sent to a remedial class; but he knew that he felt something towards the male twin that wasn't there before. He wished it could have been towards someone else, like Taylor, because everyone expected them to get together. Well, they did anyways, right now everyone hated him. Which brought Chad to another topic of concern: why he had said those things towards Ryan.

Chad's dad was a homophobe, and he knew it. Every once in a while, they would come across a gay couple in the city, and his dad would start to tell Chad how he should never be 'one of those queers,' lest he be disowned by his father. Up until now, he had alway figured he could be in his dad's good graces while still being opened minded, but now he wasn't sure. The curly headed teen felt that he had something to hide now, even if he wasn't sure about what it was he had to hide. Thankfully, Chad' mother wasn't the same, her uncle was gay, and she loved the man just the same. She balanced his dad out, his mom, she could always bring him down from one of his moods whenever he go into one. She was like supermom.

The teen clicked the television off, not able to deal with Thin Girl's constant whining, and headed off for bed.

***

Ryan was laying in his huge bed, reading a book. Well not really, he was just staring at the pages while he was thinking. Tonight had been quite an ordeal, and he would have been in the hospital too if it weren't for Chad. Ryan remembered himself pinned to the seat beneath him, his clothes being stripped off of him, it sent chills down his spine. He then remembered Chad coming to his rescue, and being with him the whole time.

A blush then came to his cheeks as he remembered that Chad had seen him in his underwear- which was a pair of tight red satin boxer briefs. Ryan would never wear that underwear at school, because the locker room was awkward enough without his sexy underwear, so that would be the first time anyone saw him in it. He kind of felt it should have been Troy who had seen him in it first, but at least he wasn't raped.

Chad was forgiven in Ryan's eyes, he couldn't imagine holding a grudge that long anyways, it took too much time to hate someone. He instead focused on Troy, who was pretty close to asking him out. If it were up to Ryan, he would have been on the boy in a few minutes, but this was Troy's decision, and he needed to let Troy come to him when he was ready. He just hated the waiting.

Sharpay finally had let him be after many hours of hugging and telling him to never leave by himself again. He couldn't blame her, it was a scary what had happened, and he probably would have reacted the same as well if he were in his sister' glittery stilettos. Still, all he wanted was to be in Troy's arms, having him tell him it would all be okay. The blonde loved being held by Troy, when they became friends, he would get several guy hugs from the rest of the male Wildcats. Troy's were the best, he would give a firm hug- the one that made you feel safe. It had been the best part of Ryan's day since they had become friends.

How weird, they had only been friends for a few weeks, but they had known each other for years. The blonde guessed it was because when you started high school, you were still unsure of where you belonged. It took a few years to get comfortable with people who weren't in the same group as you. There were the jocks, rich kids, the drama kids, math wizards, and so many others. After a few tumultuous years, your learned to float along, forgetting the social barriers that the younger ones stuck to.

Ryan had always thought about what it would be like to have friends- friends that weren't your sister. Up until this summer, the blonde haired youth thought he was going to graduate with no friends. He clicked his light off, smiling at the fact that he was wrong.

***

Troy was looking in the direction that everyone else was looking, and saw the blonde in the doorway. He smiled and put his tray down, walking briskly to Ryan. He stopped a few steps short and looked at him.

"Hey." Troy blurted out.

"Hey yourself." Ryan smirked at Troy's sudden shyness.

"So, I heard about what happened last night. Are you alright?" Troy said, finally forming a coherent thought in his head.

"I'm a little shaken, but alright nonetheless. How have you been? Since last night I mean?"

"Oh, alright." Troy responded.

"Good."

"Alright then."

"I'll see you later then Captain." Ryan replied, a little disappointed.

The was a collective sigh from around the kitchens.

"M'kay see you later tonight?" Troy asked, still unsure of their current relationship status.

"Yup."

Troy gave the blonde an awkward hug goodbye and stepped back. He looked into Ryan's eyes, then flicked over to his lips. The blonde's mouth was looking quite kissable.

"Okay Troy see you then." Ryan skulked off, looking a bit defeated.

Another collective sigh filled the room.

"Wait Ryan! I forgot something!" Troy jogged the few step to the male Evans, which was a bit dramatic, but still cool.

Troy pulled Ryan close by his wrist, and put there foreheads together. He looked into blue eyes staring back at him, full of longing. The basketball captain then closed his own eyes, and closed the small space between their lips, igniting a huge fire inside of his heart. The teen wrapped his arms around Ryan's waist, bringing their bodies closer. He deepened the kiss further, and moved his other arm to the back of Ryan's head. The blonde teen had somehow managed to get hid hands under Troy's shirt without him noticing, and had a palm resting across his stomach. Troy moaned a bit from the sensations and then, reluctantly pulled away for air.

Troy opened his eyes and looked at Ryan. The blonde youth's cheeks were flushed with passion, his already unkempt hair was mussed even further, and his lips were still a bit swollen from their kiss. The brunette thought Ryan had never looked better.

Ryan cracked the biggest smile that Troy had seen in days and pulled him into a hug.

"Oh my god! I thought Troy was gonna chicken out for sure." Taylor said, breaking the silence and reminding the two that they were not alone.

"Oh… hey guys." Ryan said sheepishly.

***

Troy and Ryan were laying on one of the hills of the golf course, looking up at the stars. The brunette had his new boyfriend in his arms, who was currently doing some major Troy staring at the moment.

"Troy?" Ryan asked, nuzzling the crook of his partner's neck.

"Yes Ryan?" He gave the smaller one a brief squeeze.

"What's going to happen when school starts? I know our friends don't really care, but your dad… he works there. He's bound to find out."

Troy had already given this some serious thought, and had come up with a solution.

"Don't worry about it. We still have a month until school starts up, it's too early to worry about things like this. I promise you, though, if I have to, I'll come out to the entire student body just to be with you." Troy said, pulling his boyfriend in for a quick kiss.

"I didn't think you were gay. I thought you were bisexual." Ryan replied.

"Honestly, it's like, whatever. I don't want to feel like I have to give myself a label because I'm dating one guy. For all I know, your going to be the only guy I've ever liked. I might just be into you." Troy pulled Ryan closer.

"I bet you say that to all the boys…" Ryan added before being pulled onto another long passionate kiss.

THE END

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Oh my! Is it finally over? Yes? Alright!!! Here's to completing my first ever fanfiction!!!

Sorry if it's a bit short, but I've been so overloaded with homework, this was all the time I could put into it. I'll probably go back and revise this, but not for a while. If I waited until I had more free time, it would be another two weeks, and I do NOT want to wait that long. Anyways, enough of my ramblings, how did you like it? Please send reviews!!! I want to know how it was.

Also something important!!! **I have a poll up on my profile where you can vote on the next fanfiction I write**. Get your votes in, I'm not sure when I'll close the polls, but I will continue to work on my A Broken Mind fic, which is next on the update list.

Thank You for Everyone who has read and reviewed and favorite-ed this story, you motivated me to keep going. Also thank you to everyone who put me on your alerts or subscriptions, you rock too!

Peace, (Rawr!)


	13. Bonus Chapter: The First Date

It was nearing dusk and the stars were twinkling brightly against the soft purple sky. The sun had fallen a few moments ago, and people were beginning open the windows and doors of their houses, hoping for a breeze. The New Mexico summers were harsh and many chose to wait for the darker hours when it was cool to go outside. It was also the time when many couples would go out together, Troy and Ryan included.

Tonight would be their first official date together as a couple, and Troy was running around his room getting ready trying to avoid being late. The brunet had went to lie down and rest after work, thinking he would only nap for a few hours. He had also forgotten to set the timer on his cell phone, and he woke up to the setting sun blaring through the living room curtains. Now he was frantically running around his room with only a towel around his waist, trying to find the clothes he had picked yesterday for their date.

The athletic teen was the opposite of fashion forward and hopeless when it came to dressing himself. That's why he had called Sharpay yesterday and asked her to help him to find something to wear for his first date with Ryan. Sharpay had agreed and said she would be there in half and hour. Two hours later she showed up honking the horn in her pink convertible. Troy then received a text from the diva saying she already knew that it would be useless to go through his closet and that they were heading to the mall.

***Flashback***

Troy was laying on his bed watching television, well actually he was trying to find something good on the set. All that was on at the moment were reality shows and sitcoms from the previous decade. In the distance, he heard an engine roaring. It was getting closer and soon it was what Troy assumed to be right next to his house. Then the engine was turned off and honking began. The brunet assumed it was one of the neighbors friends and payed no mind to it. After a few minutes his cell phone went off; it was a text from Sharpay, she wrote that she was the one outside honking and that he needed to get his butt in the car because there was nothing in that closet of his that was date material. Troy quickly sent his mom a text explaining where he was going and promised to call her when she got off work and grabbed his shoes.

When he went outside he was met with the sight of Sharpay sitting on the hood of her car, posing like a model.

"Umm, Sharpay? Why are you sitting on your car like that?" Troy asked.

"I felt like surprising you." Sharpay hopped off of the car and walked up to Troy. "Now tell me, if you weren't with Ryan and you liked girls-" Troy shot her a look. "-okay, well, whatever you are… would you consider that a pleasant surprise?"

"I guess…" Troy trailed off.

"Good. That's the kind of effect I'm hoping for when Ryan sees you tomorrow." She clapped her hands excitedly.

"I don't know about that Sharpay, if I do things like that, I'm going to look easy." Troy said, not feeling like having to pose on the car.

"I don't mean pose on the car! My god you are so clueless." Sharpay exclaimed. "You're used to seeing me dressed to the nines, so I had to do something else. Trust me, my brother seeing you in actual clothing will have the same effect without the car."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Troy asked.

"Well, nothing _big_ but everything you own is kind of boring. You need something to make you stand out." She explained.

"No thanks, I've seen how Ryan 'stands out,' and as much as I like him thats his thing, not mine."

"Whatever. You asked for my help, and you're going to get it whether you like it or not." Sharpay grabbed the brunet by the arm and dragged him into the depths of her pink car.

***

Troy had been standing in line for Sharpay's coffee for the past twenty minutes, and he still hadn't even ordered yet. Some guy ahead of him was paying for twenty dollars worth of coffee and pastries with small change. The brunet wondered if Ryan had to go through this whenever he went shopping with his sister, because if so, the blond deserved a lot more credit than anyone has ever given him.

When they first arrived at the mall, the first place they went to was the department store at the wealthy side of the mall. They carried all of the big labels, Sharpay explained, and she just knew that they would find something to match Troy's style. The spent fifteen minutes in that store and all hey came out of there was some new boxers for the brunet and a few pairs of sock. Sharpay already knew that's all she was going to get in that store, it was Troy who made it take forever. He refused to wear some of the undergarments the blond had chosen for him, thinking about the stares he would get if he showed up in the locker room at East High wearing something very tight and purple. The total for these had already hit over one hundred dollars and Troy was about to take them all back when the blond diva pulled out her credit card and flashed a grin at him.

"Don't sweat the small stuff Troy, I'm fully laminated." She boasted.

Well, that was one worry off of his mind. Now all he had to worry about was Sharpay trying to get him to wear a silk ruffled shirt like Gabriella had tried to.

The next shop was a place for formal wear. Troy objected, saying he knew for sure that Ryan would not be wearing a suit for dinner and a night at the movies. Sharpay just rolled her eyes and continued through the racks. She had pulled out several different shirts, all varying from blazers to dress shirts to t-shirts. After what felt like forever, the girl went 'ah - ha!' and pulled out something. It was a simple black leather jacket and Troy was glad it wasn't frilly, then she ran over to a different rack and pulled up a simple white v-neck tee. The female actress held the combination up to Troy's body and nodded her head. Sharpay paid for the jacket and tee and then they walked out of the shop.

It was then that Sharpay claimed she was thirsty and tired and asked Troy to go to the coffee shop down the way and get her a chai tea latte. He looked in the direction she pointed to and saw a huge line of people there, all waiting for their coffee. The brunette then looked to the other side of the mall and saw another coffee stand, by a smaller chain, and asked why not just go to that one. Sharpay rolled her eyes and said that the coffee form the other place never tasted as good. Troy just backed away and went over to the crowded coffee shop, trying to appease the girl who was practically paying for his date tomorrow.

***

"Next!" An energetic barista called out. "Hey, you!"

Troy snapped out of his daydreaming and realized that the copper headed barista was calling him. He walked quickly to the counter and froze: what was Sharpay's order again? He tried to rack his brain to remember but was at a loss.

"Do you know what you want?" The copper headed girl asked, getting slightly annoyed.

"Umm, kind of… it was some sort of hot drink. It sounded something like 'yoga' or something." Troy started saying things that he felt were relevant to the order. "I think it was a yoga late."

"You mean a _chai tea latte_, right?" The girl asked, flabbergasted that someone so young could be so out of touch.

"That was it! I thought it sounded like an exercise - like tai chi, and I thought Sharpay was just using an accent when she said 'latte." Troy quickly elaborated.

"You said Sharpay?" The girl asked.

Troy nodded.

"Hey John!" The girl screamed. "The 'princess' wants her usual, make sure you make it like she wants it!"

"Thanks… Brittany." Troy had to read the tag. "Here's five dollars, I think that should cover it."

"Oh, don't worry about it. Sharpay has a tab here, we bill her every time it hits one hundred dollars." Brittany explained as she wrote down his order on a slip of paper and put it in the register.

"Oh." Troy stated. "How often does it reach one hundred dollars?"

"About every two weeks." The teen girl answered. She saw Troy's awestruck face and quickly explained. "She doesn't spend it all on _herself_, most of the time she pays for all of her friends. Despite her icy exterior, she can be very generous." The girl smiled. "And she tips _very_ generously."

"I see."

"Hey Troy!" A guy who looked to be in his twenties called to him, he must have been John. "Sharpay's order is ready. You better hurry, though, she likes her latte very hot." John gave him a wink as he handed it to him. "Here's your napkin."

Troy took it and looked at it. The napkin had writing on it, 'John: XXX-XXXX call me! Xoxo.' The brunet looked at the guy again, John was winking at him!

"Hey man, thanks for the number, but I'm already taken." Troy handed the napkin back.

"Aww." John whined. "Well, he's very lucky to have a guy like you. What's he like-"

"Wait," Troy interrupted, "what makes you think I'm gay?"

"Oh, your not?" The barista asked. "My bad, I just thought you were… well never mind. Enjoy your day." John quickly went back to making orders.

Troy walked away feeling very confused. Was he acting differently than how he used to? He felt the same as he always had, he was just dating a guy this time. He wasn't even sure if he was fully gay: he only felt this way about Ryan. Then again, he didn't feel _that_ way when Sharpay was posing on the car. That would normally get his attention, but not even girls like Sharpay or Gabriella made him feel like he did when he was with Ryan.

He returned to the bench next to the fountain where Sharpay was sitting and gave her the drink she ordered. She took a sip, sighed, and smiled.

"So you _did _get it right… I was afraid you wouldn't mention it was for me." She looked at his face. "What's wrong?"

"Sharpay, do I- do I seem different to you now?" The athletic teen asked.

"Of course, you're with my brother, which kind of makes me see you in a different light." The blond diva put simply.

"Yeah, but I mean do I seem more…," Troy paused, " gay?"

"What? No, you still act like the same old Troy. Why, did someone call you, you know, the 'f' word?" Sharpay asked, getting ready to show people how scary she could really be.

"No, it wasn't like that. It's just that the barista over there was hitting on me. Now I'm used to guys hitting on me, it's happened quite a few times already, but when I told him that I was already with someone he said that 'that _guy'_ was very lucky." Troy looked to the blond girl. "How could he know that I was with a guy? Does gaydar really exist?"

"Was his name John?" Troy nodded. "Don't worry Troy, he thinks every cute guy is gay, or least he hopes they are."

"Oh."

Troy felt as if a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He wasn't ashamed to be with Ryan, but he was afraid that his dad would become suspicious, and John just made him more afraid. He still had no idea how his parents would react to him coming out, and he didn't want to find out just yet. He knew there would be a point where he would want to introduce the guy who made him so happy to his parents, but for now he would wait and observe.

"So… there's only two things left to get: your jeans and accessories. First the denim, and I know just the place. Trust me, these jeans will make your ass look absolutely fantastic." She boasted as she dragged him along.

"I'm not sure if I want people staring at my ass…" Troy interrupted.

"You want to look good for Ryan, don't you?" She looked at him.

"Well, yeah, but isn't that something we could do in _private_?" He suggested.

"Oh god, don't make me think about you _that_! He's my brother for goodness sakes." She shook her head trying to erase the image. "Well, anyways, if you want to impress him, you'll just have to get used to other people looking."

They had reacher their destination: one of those high end stores that main focus was to make their denim as rock star glamorous as possible. Troy wasn't going to lie, he actually like the clothing there, but it was the price tag that had stopped him from ever entering the store.

***

Once inside, Sharpay was surprised to find Troy taking an active role in finding the perfect pair of jeans. He had also found many other things that he liked, from tee shirts to jewelry, he was actually having fun shopping. Finally the blond girl had found it: the perfect pair of denim. It was a vintage wash dark blue pair of jeans that had a few little holes in it, not one of those tacky pairs where the entire legs is practically exposed - it also had some chains and rivets on the waistband. If Sharpay weren't buying them for Troy, she would have gotten them for Ryan, knowing exactly which outfits she would plan for the both of them. She quickly asked the brunet what size he was and picked it up. Then, without him looking, she went and picked up a few other things that she saw him eyeing. If was going to take an interest in fashion, then who was she to deny him? He had at least enough for a few outfits to tie together. Now it was her turn.

She put Troy's clothes on the counter and asked the sales associate to hold on to them until she was finished. To her shock, the woman said no and said if they were just there to fool around and make a mess then there was no need to hang on to them, since they couldn't afford it anyways. The blond chanteuse simply smiled and walked of to the racks, intent on buying as many clothed as she could fit in her trunk and showing the ignorant woman exactly how 'poor' she really was.

In practically no time at all, the Sharpay had pulled almost every article of clothing in her size off of the rack and put it on the counter. Troy watched with wide eyes as the stand off progressed. The woman behind the counter gave a calculating smile to the pair. A security officer came into the store, going to the counter as well.

"So, what was the problem that you were having miss?" The guard asked.

"It's these children officer, I asked them to put the clothes back since they couldn't afford them and they refuse to do so." She said in a whining voice. "Could you please tell them to leave?" Her voice sounded frail and pleading, probably trying to make the guard feel like a hero.

Sharpay smiled at the associate's manipulative abilities. This was going to be very interesting. The blond girl waited patiently as the guard walked up to her, smile on hand.

"Little miss, I think you owe this lady an apology. If you agree to put all of the things back on the racks, I will let you off with a warning and won't call your parents." The guard put on a friendly voice. "Alright sweetie?"

"Just one moment officer, I need to make an important call." Sharpay dug through her handbag and pulled out her crystal encrusted cell phone and called the number that would win her the match. "Hello? Hey Richard, it's Sharpay. Yes, my mom is fine, thank you for asking. Oh, well I'm calling about one of your associates, yes, that does sound like her." Sharpay's flicked in the woman's direction, eyes full of malice. "Well I was shopping with a friend when the sales associate refused to hold my items at the counter. She accused me of being unable to pay, and then called the security guard saying I was creating a ruckus."

The sales lady's face went slack, no, it couldn't be _that_ Richard.

"Okay, let me out you on speakerphone." The blond pushed a few buttons and then the sound of a male voice filled the air.

"Hello Christine." The apparent Richard greeted.

"H-hello Richard."

"Tell me Christine, what all - important book is located under the register. You know, the one I asked you to read."

"It's the book 'Valued Customers,' it list al of our biggest clients." She said with a cracking voice.

"So tell me, who is number one on the list?" Richard's voice asked.

"I don't know, I haven't read it yet."

"Well, read it now." He commanded.

Christine picked the book out of it's hiding place and flipped to the first page. There was Sharpay, in all of her glory, wearing a sparkly tiara with the words "#1 Customer: Highest Priority" under it.

"Oh shit…" She lamented.

"I think that about sums it up." Richard agreed. "I will be talking to you tomorrow. Bye Sharpay, tell Christine to give you a thirty percent discount on all of your purchases, okay?" Then the other line clicked off.

"Well, I guess I'm of no use here." The security guard said. "Have a good time you two and sorry about the misunderstanding."

"Oh don't worry officer, it wasn't your fault, you didn't know know. Nor could you have known beforehand, unlike some other people here." Sharpay tilted her head in the direction of the register.

The officer walked out, but not before giving Christine a look of sympathy.

"So Christine, how about that discount?" Sharpay smiled.

Yes, Sharpay Evans loved to win.

***

Troy was amazed at the afternoon with Sharpay. He had managed to replace half of his closet with new name brand and designer clothing that he got _out of spite_. The fact that she could spend a few thousand dollars so easily was incomprehensible to the teen and he wondered silently to himself if Ryan was high maintenance. The last two shops that they went to to were for 'the essentials' as Sharpay put it. The first shop only held one item of interest: a pair of aviator sunglasses. The second was a little better, with him finding a few bracelets, belts and even some fragrance. He always thought it only smelled like perfume, but there were some that were very close to his body spray - except they smelled better. He just got a few sample sizes, knowing he would scarcely ever wear them any other time.

After spending the day shopping with Sharpay in the mall, Troy returned home to surprise his parents with an entire trunk full of new clothes. At first they immediately checked their wallets, making sure he hadn't stolen their credit cards, but once they heard that Sharpay had bought them, they were okay with it. His mom even made him try all of them on and do a fashion show in the living room.

"Wow, I knew the Evans' were wealthy, but the amount of money Sharpay spent on you is dumbfounding. She must really like you." Mrs. Bolton smiled.

"Actually, it was Ryan who gave her the idea to give me a makeover. He said since I was practically charming my way into their family, the least I could do was look the part." Troy lied - slightly.

Ryan really had said those things before jokingly, right before he claimed he like Troy just the way he was and then it led to a steamy make out session in the kitchens at Lava Springs. Chad walked in on them, and after they got him to calm down, he couldn't look Ryan in the eye, he apologized for freaking out. He claimed that he kept forgetting that Troy was with Ryan and that finding them like that still surprised him. Troy wasn't sure he believed him, but was glad that Chad was at least making an effort.

"That Ryan. He's quite a character, didn't he organize that whole talent show affair with the staff?" Mrs. Bolton smiled. "I like him."

Troy smiled, feeling all warm inside, he liked that his mom liked Ryan. It meant that she would probably be more accepting when the brunet they called their son came out to them.

"I don't know…," Jack Bolton started, "he dances. He doesn't really do many sports and when he does play basketball for P.E., he makes it look like some kind of dance. I'm not saying that I don't like the kid, he a great kid and all, it's just that he's a little off."

Troy felt his stomach lurch, it was almost as if he were saying those things about the brunet, after all, his son was with the boy who was 'off.'

"You know," Troy began, "Ryan says that dance and sports aren't all that different."

"Is that so?" Mr. Bolton scoffed. "How does he figure that?"

"Well, to start, both activities are heavily choreographed. Call it what you want, but we both go over moves and steps over and over until we get the moves perfect. Then there's the team: it isn't enough to simply know the moves, you have to be able to work as a team, knowing where your 'team' is and be able to cover if one of them should mess up - you have to work as one to achieve you goal." Troy said proudly, thinking his boyfriend was smart.

"How insightful," Troy's mom responded. "Don't you think so Jack?" Mrs. Bolton jabbed her husband's side. She knew Troy was trying to get his father to like Ryan, probably because he always liked to make people feel comfortable.

Mrs. Bolton knew that Ryan had been hanging out a lot lately, which was probably why Troy was trying to get Jack to like him. They usually spent their time locking in Troy's room, probably because Ryan was afraid of her husband, the poor dear.

"How about you invite Ryan to come over for dinner tomorrow? I'm sure he can handle non-five-star cuisine, if only for one night." Mrs. Bolton suggested.

"We can't. Me and Ryan wanted to go see that new action flick that just came out, and he already bough the tickets." Troy explained.

"Isn't that something that girlfriends and boyfriends do?" Jack said darkly.

"What?" Troy was feeling slightly sick.

"He's bought you the new clothes and now it sounds like he's taking you out to a movie for a date." Jack explained. "It just doesn't sound right."

"It's not like that dad," Troy quickly lied. "He bought the tickets because he lives closer to the theater than I do, and I'm buying the pizza afterward to pay him back."

"That sounds even more like a date." Jack repeated his thoughts. "Be careful, you don't want to send the wrong message to people and ruin your chances at a scholarship."

"Jack!" Mrs. Bolton scolded. "Leave them alone, they are just going out to a movie as friends, it's not like it's really a date. And how dare you talk like that about Ryan when he isn't even here to defend himself. I thought we were raising Troy to be accepting of all people for their faults and differences. Besides, I hate to burst your bubble, but Troy isn't doing basketball anymore. Remember?"

"It's not like I'm saying anything bad about him, I'm just saying that being seen with him can send the wrong impression to people. And I think Troy is gonna change his mind once school starts again, he loves basketball, it's in his blood." Jack smiled, saying he was in the right even when he knew he was wrong.

"You know dad, it's things like that that have made it so difficult for gay people to find equality in this world." He looked his dad in the eye. "I'm not saying Ryan is gay, but what you say are precisely the things that intolerant, hateful people say, and Ryan gets enough shit about it everyday from people our own age. Don't tell me you, an adult, are going to start picking on him too."

Troy got his things and walked out of the living room. He hurried into his room and closed the door, fighting back the tears he knew were welling up inside him. His mom would be up in a minute, she always did when he got like this. He just had to fight back the tears until then. He threw his bags under his bed for now, he would put them away properly tomorrow.

A soft knock let him know it was time, he opened the door and let his mom in. She immediately wrapped him in a tight hug and placed a kiss on his forehead.

"I'm so proud of you Troy." She whispered in his ear. "You stood up for what you believed in and didn't back down. Just like I - and your father - taught you."

Troy stiffened at the sound of his father's name. He shut his eyes tightly, trying his best to fight back the tears.

"I know mom, I just wished dad wouldn't talk like that." The brunet choked. "It scares me thinking he could be full of hate for no reason."

"He's trying. He was raised to think being gay was worse than death, and although he's not perfect, he's come a long way." She looked her son in the eyes. "Just know that no matter if you date a girl, or a boy, I'll always love you."

Troy wrapped his arms around his mom and hugged her tightly. "I know."

They stood in the teens room, locked in a tight embrace for a few minutes. Finally Troy spoke.

"I'm dating Ryan Evans, and I really like him." Troy confessed.

"Really? Since when?" Mrs. Bolton asked.

"A few weeks ago, I haven't told you guys because of dad. He scares me a bit." Troy began to explain. "I'm scared that dad will freak out if he ever finds out. That he will disown me and kick me out. I don't want him to hate me because I accidentally fell in love with the wrong sex!"

_Love_.

Did he really love Ryan Evans? It was the first word that formed in his head when he thought about the blond and certainly was the last thought. How did you define love? You would think you would know when your in love. But Troy didn't know, he always felt the word held no meaning, it was the same as liking someone. True love to him was when you would risk everything to be with the one you love. When you couldn't go a day without seeing, feeling and thinking about the one you were with. So could Troy really love Ryan Evans? He couldn't even find the strength to come out to his own father.

"Honey, your dad could never hate you. It will definitely be something to get over, but he'll deal. And you didn't fall in love with the wrong sex, you just happened to fall in love, and it just happened to be a boy." She whispered as she consoled her son, silent tears streaming down his face; she hated seeing Troy like this.

"I don't even know if I love him. How can I be sure about it?" Troy said, his voice cracking.

"I don't know, that's something that your going to figure out yourself. Just know that love is a beautiful thing whether it is a man and woman or whatever else the combination." She kissed his head. "I've got to go do the dishes, and don't worry, I won't tell your dad. You guys have fun tomorrow alright? Goodnight Troy."

"Goodnight mom." Troy said, feeling a little better that he at least told his mom.

"Oh and Troy," Mrs. Bolton smiled. "I'll let you keep the door closed when Ryan's over since it's still a secret, but I want you to give me your word you won't do anything in here that's… well you get it. Okay? "

"Alright mom, I promise." Troy said.

Troy's mother closed the door behind her and left her son to think over things. He still had no idea if he was gay or bisexual, or if he was in love. He hoped it was more than a high school crush, but you never knew. The real test would come when school started and he was in the public eye once again.

He didn't want Ryan to feel like a dirty secret or that their relationship was anything less than fantastic, because it was. The past few weeks with Ryan some of the best in his life. Every time their lips touched it felt like the athletic teen had scored the winning shot at the basketball game. Every time he saw the blond it felt like he was waking up to Christmas morning, and he didn't want to do anything that could ever change that.

***End Flashback***

Troy then remembered: under the bed. He chided himself for not looking there, it was the most obvious place to look since he shoved everything under there until he could get to it. There the were, the small pile of bags of new clothing, still unwrinkled and ready to wear.

Troy found the outfit that Sharpay had assembled for him: a white v-neck tee shirt with a vest, the summer was too hot for a jacket, and the pair of jeans that made his ass look 'ravishing' as Ryan's twin put it. He put the tee and jeans on, the vest would come later when it was cooler, and went through the accessories he had. He chose a distressed leather belt and two bracelets: one belt that looked like the one on his waist and a simple braided chord in white. Troy felt a little foolish dressing up like this, but felt it that it was necessary since he wanted to impress Ryan.

He stayed in his room when he was done, not wanting his father to question why he was so dressed up for a movie with a friend. There wasn't much to do in there, he had a television, but nothing was on at this time and his laptop's wireless card had died the other day, so he had no internet either. Instead, he pulled out his cell phone flicking through the pictures of his boyfriend and him. He smiled as he found some of Ryan making 'deep' faces; they were trying to get an emo picture of him so Troy could put it up as his wallpaper. Instead they ended the last few frames of Ryan laughing and Troy moving in to kiss him. Poor Chad, he was the one taking the pictures and he looked like it was uncomfortable for him to photograph it.

Under normal circumstances, Chad might have stopped taking pictures, but he was still trying to get back into the good graces of the rest of their friends, and spending a lot of time with Ryan and Troy helped to do so. Jason, Zeke and the rest of the basketball team had forgiven him, but the the girls still gave him the cold shoulder. Chad did take it all in stride, though, he even joked he could see where Troy was coming from since girls hold onto grudges much longer than boys. Troy and Ryan thought it was funny, but Taylor heard and Ryan was sure that it must have added another week of damage control.

There were more photos of the couple: eating in the kitchens, playing basketball with the other wildcats - Troy and Ryan beat Jason and Chad - and even a few of Ryan bending over to pick something up. The blond didn't know about those yet. Troy usually wasn't so oversexed, but being with the blond made him hornier than he had ever been with Gabriella. That wasn't to say Gabriella wasn't attractive, but there was something about being with someone who wanted sex as much as you that made it that much hotter.

Troy then tried to focus on something else to distract himself from his lecherous thoughts. He closed his phone and went downstairs to get some lemonade. Luckily his dad was napping on the couch and the brunet was able to sneak past him. That's when his phone went off, and he pulled it out of his pocket. The alarm had went off, telling Troy he should pick up Ryan now. He downed the lemonade and ran up stairs to gather his things. The brunet was out of the house within a minute and out of the driveway within five minutes. The golden boy was sure the 'truck' he received from his dad was some sort of cruel joke.

After a brief drive to the Evans' estate, Troy was jogging up the steps to his date's front door. Mr. Evans answered the door and immediately broke out into a wide grin.

"Troy!" He boomed. "So your the guy going out with Ryan!"

"He told you about us?" Troy froze.

"Yes, he sure did!" Mr. Evans continued. "He told me that the two of you lady killers are going out on the prowl for some night time mischief. Don't worry about Sharpay, she said that she's okay with you scoping out other girls with her brother."

"Oh." The brunet was dumbstruck. Lady killers? "That's good, I was a little nervous about coming here."

"Not at all Troy! Come on, I'll show you where Ryan's room is." He gestured for the teen to follow him.

They made their way down the upstairs hallway, passing numerous rooms that Troy assumed were guest rooms. Finally, they stopped at the end of the hallway. There were two doors: one bright pink with glitter spelling out Sharpay's name, and the other with a gold star plaque on it. The plaque read 'Ryan.'

"Thank you Mr. Evans."

"Not at all Troy, come over again sometime and we can talk about your future some more." Mr. Evans gave the smaller man a thump on the back and walked off.

Troy snuck into Ryan's room and saw Ryan in an undershirt and his underwear, the blond had not noticed troy come in yet. Feeling a bit frisky, the brunet moved furtively behind his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around the blond, taking the smaller one by surprise.

"When did you get here?" Ryan gasped

"A moment ago, I had to escape the clutches of your father. Apparently we're going out to scope chicks, which is funny because I thought we were going out on a date. Oh well, I suppose these new duds could pick up some girls." Troy turned around and modeled his new look.

"Troy! You look… you look _really_ sexy right now." Ryan moaned. "Turn around again."

Troy did as he was told, but his boyfriend told him to stop midway with his back side turned to him.

"Those jeans make your ass look hot. Who helped you pick this out?" Ryan asked.

"Your sister," Troy answered. "She also replaced half of my closet to get back at some uptight byotch at that one store. Which means there are more 'new Troy' looks for you to see."

"I think the only sad thing about this is that I'd rather take your clothes off than see you in them any longer." Ryan smiled, stealing a kiss from his boyfriend. Troy was really getting into it when Ryan pulled back. "I have to go get dressed now, or we'll be late for our movie."

Troy watched Ryan walk into his closet, well he watched Ryan's backside walk into the closet, and smiled. They did that a lot: the teasing and innuendos. The only thing that seemed a bit negative about the whole thing was the feeling afterwards; it left both boys feeling frustrated. But they had agreed to wait, and that was what they were going to do. Troy sometimes felt he was a little too lewd in his behavior with Ryan, but then reminded himself that there were plenty of people his age that did a lot more than make out. In fact, the pair were taking it a lot slower than most couples in their school did.

Ryan finally sashayed out of his walk - in closet, dressed to the nines in an outfit that put his boyfriend in one mode: sex. The blond smiled and walked up to the brunet, relishing the effect he was having on him.

"Are you ready?" Ryan asked.

"Ready and willing." Troy smirked.

Ryan smiled back and gave Troy a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Well that's a bummer because this isn't what I'm wearing. Hang on, I'm not really wearing this out. This is a bit much - even for me. Besides, it's more of a bedroom look, for when we… you know." Ryan hinted.

Ryan went through his racks, trying to find something a little more appropriate for a first date that didn't end up in the bedroom. He was roaming through the various textiles when an arm wrapped around his waist. He felt the warm presence of his boyfriend and smiled to himself. He knew exactly what he wanted to wear. He picked out a simple outfit: a pale blue v-neck with some random black stripes and a pair of tight black pants. He was going for an emo look tonight, a change of pace for himself, and wanted to look hot without going overboard.

After all of the drama of what they were going to wear, the couple took Ryan's car, knowing full and well that Troy's truck was chancing not coming home again. Ryan had a very nice car. It wasn't as flashy as Sharpay's, in fact, it looked like any other car on the street, but it suited the blond. They turned on the radio, both singing loudly to a fun dance song that had recently taken the airwaves by storm. They took turns singing the verses, the sexual lyrics ringing true to the teens current mood. It was all in good fun, and the stares they received from other cars went by unnoticed.

Arriving at the theater with time to spare, they went to the concession stand, ordering as much junk food as they could carry.

"Ryan, I was thinking." Troy began. "If you eat all of this candy, will you have room for our dinner?"

"Troy," Ryan started, "I'm a _guy_ remember? And I stay pretty active, I wouldn't be surprised if I ate as much as you do. So to answer your question, yes, I think I will have room for dinner _and_ dessert."

"Okay, duly noted… So, why did you choose this movie? I know you like the occasional action flick, but it doesn't seem like your kind of movie." The brunet boyfriend asked.

"Well I figured that I could give it a chance, because I know if I don't really like it, I can make out loudly with my boyfriend in the back of the theater while the explosions cover up the sound." he blond teen said playfully.

"What if your wrong, and there are no explosions?"

"Then I feel sorry for the people around us, because it could get pretty loud." Ryan said with an impish grin.

Troy and Ryan had opted for a heavy make out session halfway in the movie. It was Troy who had accidentally initiated the affair, but he had no regrets.

*** Flashback ***

Troy was eating the candy in front of him by the handful. He had put a little bit of everything in his hand and shoveled away. He had a few interesting flavors: black licorice jellybean with butterscotch jelly beans, or green apple hard candy with a chocolate raisin, but his favorite combination was a piece of chocolate with a strawberry jellybean. The teen turned to Ryan to see if he wanted any.

"Hey Ryan," the brunet whispered in his ear. "Did you want some of my candy?"

"Not really, yours is all mixed up, and I prefer mine sorted out." Ryan said cooly.

"Come on, at least try it." Troy whined, "This could very well be the best chocolate covered strawberry jelly bean in the world and you wouldn't know because you haven't tried it."

Troy popped another of the aforementioned candy combination into his mouth and held out another for the blond.

"Well, I guess I could try…" The blond replied slyly.

Ryan moved in and caught the brunet's mouth with his own. The sweet taste of chocolate and strawberries wasn't missed by the blond, and it only led to him deepening the kiss. Troy dropped the candies on the floor and pulled his boyfriend in closer. The armrest had been pushed up before the movie had even started. Ryan slid his tongue between the brunet's lips, teasing him. Troy responded with a loud moan and parted his lips, granting entrance for the blond.

Troy moved his hand to the small of Ryan's back, inching his way to the blond's derriere. Ryan grabbed the chocolate haired teen's hand and put them on his ass.

"There," Ryan whispered in a breathy voice. "Now keep on kissing me."

Troy obliged, deepening the kiss and running his hands all over his boyfriend, who was doing the same. The couple heard some whispering from the couple beside them, but paid them no mind. They were caught in the moment.

*** End Flashback ***

They had continued their make out session for another five minutes when the couple next to them asked them to stop. They agreed to, feeling bad they were ruining the movie for some, and settled down to watch the rest of the film. Troy and Ryan went back to the candy they were eating, but had a new appreciation for chocolate covered strawberry jellybeans.

***

When the movie was over, they stood up, stretched, and apologized to the couple beside them for the distraction. The couple accepted the apology and said they remembered what it was like to be young.

With their candy nearly gone, and a new appetite forming already, the two put the remaining goodies in Ryan's car and walked through the mall's many restaurants, trying to find a place that they liked. Ryan had suggested sushi, but the brunet said no, simply because he wanted something cooked that night; Troy had no problem with sushi usually. Then the basketball player said they could get some Italian, but Ryan snorted and said that there was no way some Italian guy was going to get Troy before he did.

"Wow Ryan, that wasn't what I meant at all. Get your head out of the gutter." Troy joked, ruffling the blond's hair.

"Whatever, you know your amazed by my quick wit." The blond teased.

"Well, I don't know about that, by am amazed by your…" Troy whispered the last of it in his boyfriends ear, the words rhyming with 'quick wit,' but completely different..

"My god, Troy! Geez, I thought this was light and playful banter, not full on dirty talk." Ryan gasped, although loving every minute of it.

"What can I say, you make me a dirty guy." Troy moved in for a kiss, since no one was around at the moment.

"Oh look!" Ryan walked out of target, and Troy's attempt at a kiss was thwarted. "There's that new teppanyaki restaurant that opened up, I heard it's really cool in there."

"Well I guess we could give it a shot… it is cooked food right? Because I just ate a few pounds of candy, and I could go for some real, hot, food."

"It sure is. They cook the food in front of you and everything! It's kind of like a show." Ryan continued to explain all of the details on their way there.

"It sounds neat," Troy said, getting a bit hyped up about it. "So, this is a new one they just opened up? I wonder what it's like…"

The couple walked in, immediately taken aback by their surroundings. They expected a stereotypical asian restaurant with the ink paintings, paper doors, and weird little rock gardens; but this one was completely different. It was what you would expect a posh eatery in Japan to look like: there were glossy glass walls with water flowing under them. The koi pond was in the ceiling with a colored light show within the water, and the people working there were dressed in the latest japanese style rather than kimono.

"I like this, it's all future-y." Troy awed.

"Yeah, it is." RYan agreed.

The host soon welcomed them and asked how many people were joining them. They said it was the two of them and was going to put them in the section for friends, family, etc; but Troy said that this was a date and they wanted one of the good spots. The host hesitated for a moment, but showed them to a table near the koi pond in an alcove. She took their drink orders and got them some appetizers, rice balls, and told them their cook would be there shortly.

Meanwhile, the two boys talked about school, since it was only two weeks from starting. Troy still hadn't decided if he wanted to come right out, or just enjoy what he had and wait for a bit. Ryan was very calm about it all, saying he could wait if needed, but he didn't want to wait all year. Troy assured him that it would never be that long, he just needed to think about how he was going to go about telling people.

The chef came to their table and greeted them. He asked I they had ever came here before and if they had what they would like. Ryan said that they never had Japanese, but were willing to try new things. The chef then proceeded to ask what various foods they liked. Troy immediately responded with actual meals like burgers, pizza, and spaghetti; but Ryan got what the man meant. The blond started naming off a few vegetables and meats that he liked, then the chocolate haired teen caught on and added his bit of foods. Soon the chef had an idea of what to make and heated up the grill.

The two teens enjoyed the dazzling display of their food being made in front of them and got to talk a bit with the chef while he cooked. Every now and then Ryan would ask to hold off on a certain sauce or add more seasoning of some sort, but he managed to do it in a friendly way. Troy was lost on the subject of food preparation, his only cooking involving a bowl of milk and cereal, but was glad to have a kitchen savvy boyfriend. Soon their food was done, and the two tipped the chef before he left. They piled the stir fry food on their plates and dug in.

"Mmm!" Troy moaned. "This is delicious! Ryan, I trust you to cook for me whenever you want, you seem to know how to cook."

"Well I used to take cooking classes with my mom to keep close, but I ended up being a natural at cooking and just know what goes together." Ryan reminisced. "But you have another thing coming if you think I'm going to end up as your kitchen slave. I won't get out of bed and 'make you a sandwich."

"I could care less about sandwich. What comes before it sound more appealing." The brunet hinted.

The two finished their meal and took what was left home in separate boxes. The Teppanyaki place didn't have dessert there, so they went without. Neither complained, feeling close to bursting after the stir fry. Instead they made their to the car and drove off, heading to Ryan's place. While in the car, hands went places and certain sounds were made as the two distracted each other from the road and endangered both of their lives. Luckily the coroner had a slow night that night and the two boys were not in his schedule. They made it to the blond's house and Ryan walked Troy to his truck. They said good bye and gave a good night kiss, their First Date goodnight kiss.

Troy drove home feeling like the luckiest guy in the world, having a guy like Ryan Evans in his life, who made everyday moment feel like Christmas morning.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aww cheesy!

Hey, another chapter done! In this case it was a bonus chapter, a very _long_ bonus chapter. I decided to give you this while a continued to plan out the sequel. I'm not sure when I'll start it, but I hope this laid out the grounds for what to expect in the next installment. Well I hope you liked it, and if you did, send reviews; if not, send reviews anyways, tell me how I could improve.

A side note from the author. I have never had teppanyaki, but my Sim has. I assumed what it was like and made up the restaurant, so yeah, sorry if I was way off. Also, if you couldn't guess what Troy was whispering in Ryan's ear, it was 'big dick.' It rhymed with 'quick wit' and my gutter mind sort of just went there so yeah.

All the best,

-(RAWR!)


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